AUGUST 2026
TALK
DATE: Tuesday 18th August
TIME: 20:00
SPEAKER: Mishkah Collier
VENUE: The Athenaeum in Newlands, located at the intersection of Campground Road & Mariendahl Lane.
Drive through Boundary Terrace office park gates, turn left at the top into the dedicated Athenaeum parking area.
TOPIC: District One
Mishkah Collier is an architect and heritage practitioner from Cape Town. She started her career in the private sector, first as an architect and later transitioning to the heritage sector.
Currently she’s working at the City of Cape Town in the Heritage Metro office, where she concentrates on a range of strategic heritage policy matters throughout the metropolitan area.
Mapping memories of an erased space in a transforming post-apartheid city – focuses on the forgotten area of District One, Cape Town.
Both Talk and the Outing will focus on locating and uncovering the presence of the displaced community in order to reinstate their memory within the inner city of Cape Town.
District One, like the better-known District Six, is an urban landscape of displacement in Cape Town.
District One was centrally located northwest of Buitengracht Street – the historic demarcation of the inner core of the city (Worden, et al., 1998), nestled between Bo-Kaap, Green Point and the old harbour’s edge along its north-eastern boundary.
The area was desecrated because of the Group Areas Act, with a large portion of the historic urban landscape demolished and the community displaced to various parts of the Cape Flats1.
Intangible and tangible heritage will be discussed to establish how heritage mechanisms can facilitate dialogue pertaining to memory and displacement for redress and spatial justice to occur.
Heritage discourse in South Africa has always been geared towards the tangible Eurocentric built environment, which with South Africa’s history of colonialism, explicitly privileged whiteness.
Since 1999, with the birth of the National Heritage Resources Act, there has been a shift towards the inclusion of intangible cultural heritage or living heritage, as it is referred to in South Africa’s heritage policies. Twenty years on, intangible cultural heritage/living heritage is still a difficult element for heritage practitioners to grapple with but there seems to be a newfound realisation in its ability for inclusion and redress for marginalised communities of colour.
Given the layered history of District One as both a burial ground and an area of forced removals, the area is clearly one of great heritage significance.
District One has been sparsely acknowledged in the public history of Cape Town, giving way to a forgotten community who continue to be ignored in present society. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37057 is the link to Collier’s thesis for those who want to read more. She has included many interesting stories of older folk who lived in the area.
OUTING
DATE: Saturday 29th August @ 10:30 am
VENUE: District One Walkabout with Mishkah Collier / Please wear your VASSA badge
MEET: Pauline’s Coffee Shop next to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church (37a Somerset Road, Green Point).
Arrive early and enjoy a cup of coffee in the lovely courtyard.
The walk aims to visit key remaining civic institutions in what was formerly District 1.
The three anchor points include the Sacred Heart Church, Vos Street Mosque and Prestwich Primary School.
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A GENTLE REMINDER / CODE OF CONDUCT
TALKS happen on the third Tuesday of a month, at the Athenaeum in Newlands. All are welcome, free of charge.
OUTINGS happen on the last Saturday of a month (usually). Members only.
VASSA outings/excursions usually take us onto exclusive properties, and frequently into private homes – which is a privilege deserving respect and courtesy, and our host’s privacy being safeguarded. Hence our Code of Conduct.
GENERAL
Only paid up members may attend Outings. (Visitors pay the annual price of membership to attend an outing.)
Always wear your VASSA name badge to Outings. It’s a courtesy to fellow members as well as a safety measure to hosts who generously allow us into their homes.
Strictly no pets ever, or children without prior arrangement.
ON ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
On arrival, make sure to sign the register which has a clause that indemnifies VASSA and/or its agents against all injury, loss, damage, costs and/or expenses which you and/or any other person may incur as a result of your participation.
Then, stay close to the leader so that the host can be introduced. Do not wander off before the introduction.
On departure, gather around the leader to thank the host. Do not leave before this.
If you have to leave before the end of the outing, inform the outing leader so that others don’t wait or look for you.
PHOTOGRAPH PROTOCOL
We need to safeguard the privacy of our hosts in this digital age.
Before taking interior photographs, check with the outing leader that this is permitted.
Although we may sometimes be allowed to take interior photos if we have permission from the property owner / occupant, we should use them only for personal or research purposes.
So do not post photographs of any interior on social media – this is deemed a security risk.
And never post images of a location / farm online with either GPS co-ordinates or the name and location / address attached, nor as a caption or other “tag” such as the “check in” option on Facebook.
Some already “public” exterior shots, such as the gateposts or gables, may be used to illustrate posts to social media or to the VASSA Facebook page.
ON THE PROPERTY
Switch off cell phones or put them on ‘silent’.
Do not … Touch anything / Pick up porcelain to check maker’s mark / Take books out of bookcases, etc. / Open closed doors / Sit on the furniture / Use the toilet without asking the host’s permission / Take plant slips from the garden.
Also do not … Engage the host in private conversations while everyone else is milling around / Use the privilege of an outing to organise private business arrangements or return visits with the host / Voice personal comments while on site.
LIMITING NUMBERS
Vassa outings are usually open for all members to attend. However, certain outings may not be able to accommodate a large group of people, in which case numbers are limited to a first come first served basis, and a contact email address is always provided to secure your spot.
If you cannot attend, let the organiser know so that someone else on the waiting list can.
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