Margaret Parkes, local historian, author and a Knysna legend, turns 100 this weekend on June 21.
She has a century of Knysna memories and stories to tell and she is dearly loved by the locals having dedicated many years of her life to the greater community.
These range from TS Knysna Sea Cadets (a nonprofit organisation dedicated to training and preparing young boys and girls for a career in the maritime industry) to the local library and the town’s museums — all the while capturing the history of the town.
Parkes has all sorts of special memories such as taking her pram (which never saw a doll) to collect acorns which fell from the oak trees in Main Road in the autumn.
The acorns were for local pigs and this was some 90-odd years ago.
She recalls a time when there were only six houses on the Knysna Heads, no shops to speak of, just a general dealer at a time when residents didn’t even need keys to lock their homes.
She remembers watching ox-wagons on the Main Road bringing in the logs for the Thesens’ and Parkes sawmills.
Home for Parkes as a child was a cottage where the Knysna Post Office now stands.
“On the south side was a long glassed-in veranda from where we children had a good vantage point of all the goings-on in Main Street.
“As children we would stand on chairs to watch prison guard John Kitching ride to work on a large white horse ... followed by the policemen.”
In those days, children used to hop on the Coffee Pot train and head into the forest for picnics. Knysna was safe and wonderful then, Parkes said.
Parkes was born in Knysna, went to school here and has written 13 books chronicling the history of the town. She has left a legacy at the library, at the museums and in many hearts.
Margaret Parkes (née Fraser) was the daughter of Donald John Fraser from Kiltarlity, Scotland and Ellen Aitken Fraser (née Porteous) from Edinburgh.
Unbeknown to them, they were on the same ship sailing from the UK to SA in 1920.
They met in then Port Elizabeth and were married after a nine-month courtship, then they came to settle in Knysna and Fraser bought the Royal Hotel.
Parkes was born in Knysna in 1925 and started school in 1931 at the Concordia Forest Station and thereafter went to Knysna High School (which in those days was both a primary and high school).
Her senior schooling was at Collegiate Girls’ School in Port Elizabeth.
Parkes matriculated at age 16 and went to Rhodes University for two years — at a time when it wasn’t common for women to study further after school.
Thereafter she attended the Cape Technical College in Cape Town, where she attained her National Domestic Science Teachers Certificate in June 1947.
In 1948, she started teaching at the Dominican School for the Deaf in Cape Town and then in 1949 she moved to Healdtown Training School, Fort Beaufort, where she taught in the post-matric section for the training of African teachers.
As a child, Parkes and her siblings were brought up with Scottish traditions and as part of the Fraser clan, a heritage to be proud of.
She grew up with stories about Mary Queen of Scots, John Knox and Robby Burns, his life, his poetry.
At a young age, she wore a Fraser tartan kilt.
“Our parents left us with a love for Scotland ... which is why at family celebrations we carry on the traditions of having a piper to play a Scottish song or a lament.”
Parkes met Bernard Parkes in Port Elizabeth, they came back to Knysna and got married in 1952, then had two sons George and Jim.
Bernard’s business was Geo Parkes & Sons which has been in business for 133 years and is one of the oldest family-run timber operations in the country.
Today, the natural forests owned by Geo Parkes & Sons constitute the largest tracts of natural forests in SA in private hands.
When her husband died 43 years ago, Parkes says she had to keep busy and so she started researching Knysna.
Precious memories
Parkes still has an article she cut out of the Weekend Post in January 1994.
It is about Memories of Knysna, a book compiled by Parkes, Sue Allanson and Vicky Williams printed to commemorate the centenary of the Knysna Library.
It’s a treasure trove of short stories/anecdotes from 60 contributors compiled by Parkes — including her own musings among those of old Knysna families like Ros Thesen (Newdigate) and Jane Duthie.
More Memories of Knysna came because the first book was so popular.
Parkes wrote in the preface: “We hope you will enjoy these vignettes of life in Knysna and its environs when the days were long, the pace slower, and people were not just inhabitants, but characters.”
Knysna’s Forgotten Port tells the important story of Knysna’s maritime history, of how shipping in the town died for various reasons along with the lost records of all the ships that came in through The Heads.
Parkes compiled a historical pamphlet for the centenary of the Knysna municipality in 1982.
She wrote about a century of sawmilling, Knysna’s historical churches, the Knysna Oyster Company from 1949 to 1999 and how the Anglo-Boer War affected Knysna.
Her books which sold for R30 then are now valuable collector-finds at second hand book shops.
Life lessons
While Parkes is thrilled to talk to people about the history of Knysna and share her wealth of knowledge with others, when it comes to talking about herself, she is modest.
I ask her the obvious question of how it feels to be a centenarian and she tells me she really doesn’t think about it or want to be fussed over because of it.
She has only one bit of advice to share about longevity and that’s something her mother used to tell her.
“Rise above it and don’t complain,” is her life motto.
She also took the advice from her family doctor 60 years ago and that’s “having a wee drop of wine with lunch every day”.
Parkes does not have a cellphone or a computer because she doesn’t want one and she doesn’t watch television either.
Instead, she listens to the radio, digests a daily newspaper with great enthusiasm and is an avid reader and still very much involved in researching aspects of Knysna’s history.
She has never googled anything and tells me she did the research for her books by writing to people, by talking to them, by visiting museums like the one in George.
The eldest child, Parkes has survived her two brothers, Iain and Malcolm, and her sister, Anne, 94, lives in Somerset West. Her two sons, George and Jim, live in Knysna.
For many years, she helped St George’s Church with all sorts of things from flowers to important fundraising.
Parkes has a long history with the Knysna Yacht Club (founded in 1910) where she regularly sailed with her brothers, then with her husband and with her sons.
Husband Bernard was commodore of the Yacht Club and later Jim would come to be commodore as well.
Parkes and her sons have played an important role in helping and nurturing the nonprofit TS Knysna Sea Cadets since 1989.
Parkes is passionate about the Knysna library and has left an indelible mark on it.
As chair of Friends of the Knysna Library, she was involved in fundraising and more. Thanks to her, the important Africana collection is housed in a dedicated room.
She was a founding member and first curator of the old Millwood Museum, instrumental in collecting memorabilia, historical records, material and photographs.
She wrote 65 issues of Millwood House Museum Newsletters until the municipality took over in 1990.
She was instrumental in organising the Thesen collection and Maritime displays in the Old Gaol.
Awarded for a life of devotion to Knysna
Parkes was awarded The Molteno Medal by the Cape Tercentenary Foundation in 2000 for encouraging literature and history, for her role in collecting and preserving Knysna’s cultural heritage.
Other nominees for this award were Pieter-Dirk Uys and Anton Rupert.
The Simon van der Stel Foundation bestowed on Parkes certificates of recognition in both 1994 and 2012 for her contribution to the conservation of the architectural heritage of Knysna.
The Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship Award was presented to Parkes in 2007 for her contribution to the documentation of the history of Knysna.
Parkes was honoured in 2002 by Knysna High School’s award of an ‘Oscar’ for growing old gracefully and still being involved.
She is the first person to be given the Sanlam Lifetime Award for her contribution to Knysna.
Even now at 100, Parkes tells me she has a deadline for later this year to complete research into St George’s Anglican Church which was built in 1855.
She tells me she received a pep-talk from her mother-in-law in 1952.
“She told me how the family had been involved with the communities in previous years and that the same was expected of me.”
Her life more than testifies to having done this.
Happy birthday Mrs Parkes!
The Herald
A century of Knysna memories
Garden Route legend Margaret Parkes celebrates 100th birthday on Saturday
Margaret Parkes, local historian, author and a Knysna legend, turns 100 this weekend on June 21.
She has a century of Knysna memories and stories to tell and she is dearly loved by the locals having dedicated many years of her life to the greater community.
These range from TS Knysna Sea Cadets (a nonprofit organisation dedicated to training and preparing young boys and girls for a career in the maritime industry) to the local library and the town’s museums — all the while capturing the history of the town.
Parkes has all sorts of special memories such as taking her pram (which never saw a doll) to collect acorns which fell from the oak trees in Main Road in the autumn.
The acorns were for local pigs and this was some 90-odd years ago.
She recalls a time when there were only six houses on the Knysna Heads, no shops to speak of, just a general dealer at a time when residents didn’t even need keys to lock their homes.
She remembers watching ox-wagons on the Main Road bringing in the logs for the Thesens’ and Parkes sawmills.
Home for Parkes as a child was a cottage where the Knysna Post Office now stands.
“On the south side was a long glassed-in veranda from where we children had a good vantage point of all the goings-on in Main Street.
“As children we would stand on chairs to watch prison guard John Kitching ride to work on a large white horse ... followed by the policemen.”
In those days, children used to hop on the Coffee Pot train and head into the forest for picnics. Knysna was safe and wonderful then, Parkes said.
Parkes was born in Knysna, went to school here and has written 13 books chronicling the history of the town. She has left a legacy at the library, at the museums and in many hearts.
Margaret Parkes (née Fraser) was the daughter of Donald John Fraser from Kiltarlity, Scotland and Ellen Aitken Fraser (née Porteous) from Edinburgh.
Unbeknown to them, they were on the same ship sailing from the UK to SA in 1920.
They met in then Port Elizabeth and were married after a nine-month courtship, then they came to settle in Knysna and Fraser bought the Royal Hotel.
Parkes was born in Knysna in 1925 and started school in 1931 at the Concordia Forest Station and thereafter went to Knysna High School (which in those days was both a primary and high school).
Her senior schooling was at Collegiate Girls’ School in Port Elizabeth.
Parkes matriculated at age 16 and went to Rhodes University for two years — at a time when it wasn’t common for women to study further after school.
Thereafter she attended the Cape Technical College in Cape Town, where she attained her National Domestic Science Teachers Certificate in June 1947.
In 1948, she started teaching at the Dominican School for the Deaf in Cape Town and then in 1949 she moved to Healdtown Training School, Fort Beaufort, where she taught in the post-matric section for the training of African teachers.
As a child, Parkes and her siblings were brought up with Scottish traditions and as part of the Fraser clan, a heritage to be proud of.
She grew up with stories about Mary Queen of Scots, John Knox and Robby Burns, his life, his poetry.
At a young age, she wore a Fraser tartan kilt.
“Our parents left us with a love for Scotland ... which is why at family celebrations we carry on the traditions of having a piper to play a Scottish song or a lament.”
Parkes met Bernard Parkes in Port Elizabeth, they came back to Knysna and got married in 1952, then had two sons George and Jim.
Bernard’s business was Geo Parkes & Sons which has been in business for 133 years and is one of the oldest family-run timber operations in the country.
Today, the natural forests owned by Geo Parkes & Sons constitute the largest tracts of natural forests in SA in private hands.
When her husband died 43 years ago, Parkes says she had to keep busy and so she started researching Knysna.
Precious memories
Parkes still has an article she cut out of the Weekend Post in January 1994.
It is about Memories of Knysna, a book compiled by Parkes, Sue Allanson and Vicky Williams printed to commemorate the centenary of the Knysna Library.
It’s a treasure trove of short stories/anecdotes from 60 contributors compiled by Parkes — including her own musings among those of old Knysna families like Ros Thesen (Newdigate) and Jane Duthie.
More Memories of Knysna came because the first book was so popular.
Parkes wrote in the preface: “We hope you will enjoy these vignettes of life in Knysna and its environs when the days were long, the pace slower, and people were not just inhabitants, but characters.”
Knysna’s Forgotten Port tells the important story of Knysna’s maritime history, of how shipping in the town died for various reasons along with the lost records of all the ships that came in through The Heads.
Parkes compiled a historical pamphlet for the centenary of the Knysna municipality in 1982.
She wrote about a century of sawmilling, Knysna’s historical churches, the Knysna Oyster Company from 1949 to 1999 and how the Anglo-Boer War affected Knysna.
Her books which sold for R30 then are now valuable collector-finds at second hand book shops.
Life lessons
While Parkes is thrilled to talk to people about the history of Knysna and share her wealth of knowledge with others, when it comes to talking about herself, she is modest.
I ask her the obvious question of how it feels to be a centenarian and she tells me she really doesn’t think about it or want to be fussed over because of it.
She has only one bit of advice to share about longevity and that’s something her mother used to tell her.
“Rise above it and don’t complain,” is her life motto.
She also took the advice from her family doctor 60 years ago and that’s “having a wee drop of wine with lunch every day”.
Parkes does not have a cellphone or a computer because she doesn’t want one and she doesn’t watch television either.
Instead, she listens to the radio, digests a daily newspaper with great enthusiasm and is an avid reader and still very much involved in researching aspects of Knysna’s history.
She has never googled anything and tells me she did the research for her books by writing to people, by talking to them, by visiting museums like the one in George.
The eldest child, Parkes has survived her two brothers, Iain and Malcolm, and her sister, Anne, 94, lives in Somerset West. Her two sons, George and Jim, live in Knysna.
For many years, she helped St George’s Church with all sorts of things from flowers to important fundraising.
Parkes has a long history with the Knysna Yacht Club (founded in 1910) where she regularly sailed with her brothers, then with her husband and with her sons.
Husband Bernard was commodore of the Yacht Club and later Jim would come to be commodore as well.
Parkes and her sons have played an important role in helping and nurturing the nonprofit TS Knysna Sea Cadets since 1989.
Parkes is passionate about the Knysna library and has left an indelible mark on it.
As chair of Friends of the Knysna Library, she was involved in fundraising and more. Thanks to her, the important Africana collection is housed in a dedicated room.
She was a founding member and first curator of the old Millwood Museum, instrumental in collecting memorabilia, historical records, material and photographs.
She wrote 65 issues of Millwood House Museum Newsletters until the municipality took over in 1990.
She was instrumental in organising the Thesen collection and Maritime displays in the Old Gaol.
Awarded for a life of devotion to Knysna
Parkes was awarded The Molteno Medal by the Cape Tercentenary Foundation in 2000 for encouraging literature and history, for her role in collecting and preserving Knysna’s cultural heritage.
Other nominees for this award were Pieter-Dirk Uys and Anton Rupert.
The Simon van der Stel Foundation bestowed on Parkes certificates of recognition in both 1994 and 2012 for her contribution to the conservation of the architectural heritage of Knysna.
The Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship Award was presented to Parkes in 2007 for her contribution to the documentation of the history of Knysna.
Parkes was honoured in 2002 by Knysna High School’s award of an ‘Oscar’ for growing old gracefully and still being involved.
She is the first person to be given the Sanlam Lifetime Award for her contribution to Knysna.
Even now at 100, Parkes tells me she has a deadline for later this year to complete research into St George’s Anglican Church which was built in 1855.
She tells me she received a pep-talk from her mother-in-law in 1952.
“She told me how the family had been involved with the communities in previous years and that the same was expected of me.”
Her life more than testifies to having done this.
Happy birthday Mrs Parkes!
The Herald
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