Hello Team…
I am so delighted to bring you this quarter’s newsletter. This is my very first issue of the Otolith since joining the organization in 2018. My team and I truly loved working on the issue as we had heard and read much about the Otolith from back in the day, and the joyous moments that were documented in it.
Despite a rather inauspicious start, in 1856 saw the first natural history collections being gathered together in one room of the Port Elizabeth Town Hall. At that time the city was thirty-six years old. Today our museum is the third oldest museum in South Africa and celebrates 163 years since its inception. Bayworld, as it is known today, has grown and is one of the city’s top tourist attractions. It offers research, education and conservation all beautifully wrapped with the aim of informing, educating and entertaining our visitors.
Our Snake Park is celebrating 100 years this year. In 1909 our former director and founder caused a stir when he displayed live snakes in glass cases amongst the museum artefacts. It was the first of its kind in Africa. It is believed that one of the unforgettable characters in the Snake Park was the then snake handler, Johannes Molikoe, who handled and displayed snakes to public acclaim for 31 years. When he retired in 1947, he had been bitten more than 30 times during his working career.
Education is the cornerstone of the work that we do. Our Museum School has been very instrumental in stimulating a greater awareness of the need for conservation of South Africa’s natural and cultural heritage. It offers a unique learning experience to both the learners and the teachers. A new dawn beckons for Bay-world as the redevelopment gets underway with plans of giving our much-loved institution and the city’s treasure a facelift.
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