Kemsley Park next to the SAP sports fields just off Mount Road was one of two Anglo Boer War concentration camp sites in Nelson Mandela Bay. The other one is situated just outside Uitenhage. Roché Petersen has pointed out to me in a previous post that the dead from the concentration camp was buried in the North End Cemetery where there also is a memorial. I haven’t had a chance to pop by there to check it out, but hope to do so soon.
It was also the first time modern guerilla warfare (terrorism as we know it today) was applied.'”‘n Boer maak ‘n plan”
Just to broaden the discussion a bit, both guerilla warfare and concentration camps were also a central feature of the Filipino Insurrection against the United States, 1899-1902. The conflict in the Philippines was an extension of the Spanish-American War, 1898. Defeating the Spanish was relatively easy but the Filipinos thought the US had arrived to help them gain their independence. When they discovered this was not true, they revolted and created America’s first conflict in SE Asia. So, the Boer War and the war in the Philippines share a number of dubious distinctions.
Where in PE is this memorial?Across Mount Road from the Mount Road Police Station?
Firefishy – This is the memorial in Uitenhage. Its on the northern side of the town at the old Uitenhage show grounds. There is one on Mount Road as well.
The dead from this concentration camp are buried in the North End Cemetery where there is also a memorial. It is well worth a photo and a visit!
Can't believe I've lived here all my life and did not even know about the concentration camps. Thanks for a very interesting blog! x
I have played sport so often at Kemsley Park and do remember the memorial. Strange that as youngsters we have no interest, but as adults we become like sponges – eager to learn more.
In 2001 I was part of a memorial 'ossewatrek' from the concentration camp memorial to the Ned. Hervormde Kerk in Mangold Street behind Greenacres. It was really something. I also found some clippings in the Public Library once that appeared in the old Oosterlig. http://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Elizabeth-konsentrasiekamp