One of the tasks of the photographer working for the Western Cape Archives and Records Service is to capture images of contemporary events, buildings, the evolving urban landscape and life in Cape Town. The Digital Collection follows the CA (Cape Archives) Collection (black and white photographs).
The Supreme Court of the Northern Cape was established by Proclamation 70 dated 27 October 1871. It was officially known as the Supreme Court of Griqualand West. The law to be applied by this Court was the law of the Cape Colony, adapted to suit local conditions. In 1910, the Supreme Court of Griqualand West became the Griqualand West Local Division. This local division had the distinct power to hear appeals from lower courts and was the only division which had a circuit court.
According to the South Africa Act of 1910 control and administration of Black Affairs during the Union Period (1910 - 1961) was the Governor General. The executive Authority rested under the Department of Native Affairs. In 1958 this Department was replace wit the Minister of Bantu Administration and Development.
In terms of Proclamation No 152 of 15 December 1995 (Establishment of Rural Local Government Structures) the Klein Karoo Regional Services Council was disestablished and replaced by the Klein Karoo District Council (Province of Western Cape Provincial Gazette Extraordinary No 5004 of 15 December 1995).
On 22 September 2000 the Garden Route (previously Garden Route/Klein Karoo and Eden) District Municipality was established in terms of sections 12 and 14 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 1998 (Act 117 of 1998) (Province of Western Cape Provincial Gazette No 5592 of 22 September 2000, Provincial Notice No 497 of 22 September 2000).
The AG (General) Collection contains 19 000 photographs and were donated to the Cape Archives by various donors over the years. These photographs include portraits of individuals, families, buildings, towns, transport, nature, war, etc.
Ray Ryan was a well-known Cape photographer and the 1078 photographs in his collection deals mostly with historical houses and buildings, churches, nature, mountain passes, monuments and statues, etc. He was also an instructor at the Ruth Prowse School of Art and his particular focus was the architecture of the Western Cape. In his book 'Beautiful Homesteads of the Western Cape' (1972) his enthusiasm for our endemic architecture may be seen.
Malcolm Cobern was the photographer of the Cape Archives during the 1970’s. Much of the photographs in the CA Collection were taken by him. The photographs, slides and negatives in the Coburn Collection were donated to the archives in 2003 by his widow. 1 – 599 colour slides: Cape Town buildings and streets 1960s – 1990s 600 – 1555 black and white negatives: Train stations; trains; Copper Railway and mines in Namaqualand; towns and caravan parks in Namaqualand, West Coast, Karoo and Namibia; museums; ships; battlefields; and trains and railways in German South West Africa (Namibia).
Rowallan Hugh Fitchett was a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Architecture. He spent the university holidays from 1978 - 1986 photographing historical houses, churches and buildings in towns and cities, and also farm houses and outbuildings, mainly in the Cape Province.
