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This week, we wrap up our weekly travels with Oom Willem van den Berg. Over the past 18 weeks, we have joined the adventurous Oom Willem on his almost 100-year-old escapades, which were captured on 16 mm film. We travelled with him and his wife, Tannie Jo, across the length and breadth of South Africa and even accompanied them on a trip up the east coast of Africa and into Europe. But for now, our journey must end with two bonus reels.
For several weeks now, we have been “touring” with Oom Willem van den Berg. Guided by the 16mm film reels he left behind, we have travelled back in time to the places he visited between 1926 and the early 1930s.
Most of our readers were introduced to Oom Willem van den Berg for the first time through his exploits captured on 16mm film and now brought to life again in our weekly column about his travels over the past few weeks. But some of our older readers actually knew the Van den Bergs and still remember them fondly.
In this eighth episode of Oom Willem van den Berg’s travels, we continue to recap his journey through South Africa, which he captured on 16mm film. The footage offers a truly unique and fascinating glimpse into the country’s history, and it seems that this time Oom Willem travelled from Standerton—where he first farmed just before moving to Levubu in the early 1930s—all the way down to Durban.
In Episode 7 of Oom Willem van den Berg’s travels this week, we pick up his trail on another tour through South Africa—this time to KwaZulu-Natal, almost 100 years ago. He makes a couple of fascinating pit stops along the way, including a historic Anglo-Boer-War monument. At the time, this war (also known as the Second Boer War or the South African War, which took place from 11 October 1899 to 31 May 1902) would still have been fresh in everyone’s minds.
In our sixth instalment of Oom Willem van den Berg’s travels, our tour group find themselves back on South African soil after journeying up the East Coast of Africa and enjoying two “auto tours” in Europe during the latter part of the 1920s. As always, Oom Willem captured his endeavours on 16mm film, which we have digitised for all to enjoy.
In our fifth episode focusing on the travel films of Oom Willem van den Berg, we tour through Europe. The year is 1928, and this time they visit the “real” Venice and drive through the snowy Swiss Alps.
In our fourth episode of the series about Oom Willem van den Berg’s travels in the early 1900s, we join him on a visit to the Netherlands. Last week, we covered the boat trip up the east coast of Africa that ended in Europe, but this week’s episode is not necessarily a continuation of that trip.
We continue our tour with Oom Willem van den Berg this week, as the tour party makes its way past the Horn of Africa to Aden, and from there through the Suez Canal. Once again, Oom Willem’s nearly 100-year-old 16mm film offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into everyday life at the time as well as remarkable geographical scenery and places of interest in die 1920s.
