JUST ME :: and a stack of blank pages

:: Living creatively ::

About me

This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play. The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is. I’m here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Township

"...A community needs a soul if it is to become a true home for human beings. You, the people must gift it this soul."
- Pope John Paul II

A daily practice of sketching and painting gives you a chance to exercise the big three P's - practice, practice, practice!


"The Township" - watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - Maree© (no sketching)

Not far from us is Munsieville, a township built on the edge of a gulley with the most beautiful views over the ravine and the Krugersdorp Game Reserve (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) and as far as the Magaliesberg mountains surrounding Hartebeespoort Dam. This humble little suburb was established by ordinance 58 of 1903 of the Krugersdorp municipality and called "the native location". From the early 1930s to the 1940s, Mr. James Munsie, the white chief sanitary inspector (medical officer) of Krugersdorp, moved the location from a low drainage area to its current location, improving conditions.

In the 1980s, Munsieville was threatened with destruction and the removal of its residents to Kagiso because of its proximity to the white suburbs of Krugersdorp. Munsieville was one of only two black townships that resisted relocation in the Transvaal during that period.


Munsieville overlooking the Krugersdorp Game Reserve

2 comments:

  1. An amazing watercolour Maree - your colours are really beautiful - also chronicling a sad part of our history.

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  2. Thank you Liz! Yes, it was great of James Munsie to move the township to its current location, they have the most beautiful view over the Krugersdorp Game Reserve!

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