The publication of my University of Cape Town History Honours’ thesis inspired me to take up writing full-time. The book is out of print and a reprint is planned.

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The farmland that became Observatory was one of the last pieces of land between the Main Road and the railway line to be developed. The shape of Cape Town as it grew southwards towards the military base at Wynberg and beyond was determined by the road, the railway line and the Liesbeek River.

 

Observatory was something of an outlier, with a relatively bigger gap between the Main Road and the railway, and because the farms in the area were converted to plots later than elsewhere.

The discovery of diamonds and gold in the north changed all that, and it changed very rapidly.

 

A Town in the Suburbs tells the story of this very rapid urbanisation and explains why Observatory to this day retains the eclectic mix of residential homes, commercial and industrial properties – along with a very large number of churches. Teetotal status is something Observatory has not retained!

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Observatory never achieved municipal status of its own, with what is now Station Road dividing the northern half (Maitland and Woodstock) from the southern section (controlled by various entities such as Liesbeek and Rondebosch Municipality). These small municipalities struggled to provide adequate services and the book ends in 1913 with the amalgamation of most of the small towns into the City of Cape Town.