A historical find – St John Durban

The diaries shared some fascinating facts and figures: in 1955 alone St John Durban ambulances travelled nearly 15, 000 miles on over 800 trips carrying 400 casualties, all without charge. The Medical Comforts Dept loaned out over 300 items (crutches, wheelchairs, bedrests, commodes, feeding cups etc) and sent out numerous parcels of Christmas Cheer to needy families the names of whom were notified by the City Welfare Clinic.

There was a feature entitled: Six Survival Secrets for Atomic Attacks – which warned against rushing outside after a bombing and encouraging victims to wait at least an hour to give lingering radiation some chance to die down.

There is a signed letter from the then administrator of Natal praising the work of St John and mentioning the establishment of the St John Eye Hospital in Baragwanath, which was working hard to eradicated blindness.

 There is a section on Post Office rates for postal orders and telegrams; adverts for old hotels (Hotel Astra in Russell St; Balmoral Hotel on the beachfront) and conversion tables from English weights and measure to the Metric system. At a time before chain stores and franchised shops, there are dozens of pages of adverts for independent local shops, businesses, tea rooms and service providers. Phone numbers were five digits long, there are no logos, no images, just text.

The owner of the diary is not named – but is possibly a teenage boy with neat writing, who played rugby, often found school dreary, loved swimming, caught the train to Cape Town for the holidays, and dreaded history tests.

All in all, it makes for interesting reading and reminds us of the organisation’s deep roots, important work, fascinating history and extraordinary legacy.