Memorial Port Elizabeth Trivia Quiz

Answer: Donkin Reserve

On top of a hill overlooking Algoa Bay, this small stone pyramid was built with a lighthouse next to it. It is located in the middle of a small park with walkways and benches. Inside the monument is a museum dedicated to Sir Rufane Donkin and his wife as well as the history of the lighthouse. Buildings erected between the monument and the shoreline may not interfere with the view of the bay so that one can enjoy a great view of the city centre and the bay.

Answer: Donkin Street Houses

Along Donkin Street, the street that runs next to the hill where the Donkin Reserve was built, are eighteen houses that were built in the 1850s and that have changed very little since then. These terraced houses were built stepwise down the slope in the Victorian style and they give a view of the time when the British Settlers lived there.

Answer: Diaz Cross

Portuguese explorer Bartholomeus Diaz was the first European to set foot in what is now South Africa in 1488. The Diaz Cross was donated by the Portuguese Government to commemorate this event.

Answer: Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria ruled the United Kingdom from 1837 until her death in 1901. The Cape Colony was part of her realm. The main library of Port Elizabeth is located next to Market Square. A courthouse was built here first but it was replaced by the library building in 1902. The statue of Queen Victoria holding the Sovereign's Orb in her hand was erected in front of the library in 1903.

Answer: The Campanile

The Campanile was built in 1923 to commemorate the arrival of the 1820 British settlers. It is located at the entrance to the railway station and harbour. The Campanile contains a chiming clock and the largest carillon of bells in the country. The staircase with 204 steps leads to the top of the tower from where you have a magnificent view of the city centre, the harbour and the bay.

Answer: No 7 Castle Hill Museum

Though Victoria House is considered the oldest, disrepair led to it being condemned. No 7 Castle Hill was built in 1830 and is the oldest house in the city open to the public. It is now a museum of the period after the British settlers arrived in the area.

The inside is furnished in the style of a typical middle-class British family in Port Elizabeth in the mid-19th century. It has beautiful yellow wood floors and beams.

Answer: Fort Frederick

Fort Frederick is a stone fort built in 1799 by the British forces on top of a cliff to defend the mouth of the Baakens River. It was named after Frederick, the Duke of York. The fort contains a powder magazine and a guardhouse and was originally defended by two eight-pounder guns. However, no shot was ever fired from the fort.

Answer: The South End Museum

South End was a colourful, integrated suburb of Port Elizabeth where people of all races lived. The Group Areas Act of 1950 however put an end to that and its original residents of colour were forcibly removed to separate racial areas after which it was razed to the ground and a new, whites-only suburb was built in its place.

Answer: Piet Retief Memorial

Piet Retief was one of the Great Trek leaders who led farmers who were dissatisfied with British rule in the Cape Colony into the South African interior. During negotiations with the Zulu king Dingaan, he and his entourage were killed. The Piet Retief Memorial was erected to celebrate the centenary of the Great Trek.

Answer: The Cenotaph

The Cenotaph stands in front of the entrance to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum. The war memorial was erected in 1929 to commemorate the men who fell during the First World War. After the Second World War memorial panels were added to the walls behind the Cenotaph. In St George's Park there is also a Bowls Club, a conservatory, an open air theatre, beautiful gardens and much more to see.

Answer: Prince Alfred's Guard Memorial

The Prince Alfred's guard was founded in 1856 as the Port Elizabeth Volunteer Rifle Corps. The name was changed when they provided a Royal Guard for Prince Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria, on his visit to the city in 1860. The memorial was unveiled on 6 November 1907 to commemorate those who have fallen in the Transkei War (1877), Basutoland War (1880-1881), Bechuanaland War (1897) and the Anglo Boer War (1899-1902).

Answer: Horse Memorial

During the Second Boer War, the British built a concentration camp here to house Boer women and children. After the war, the Horse Memorial was erected, a soldier holding a bucket of water for his horse to drink. The inscription on the memorial reads "The greatness of a nation consists not so much in the number of its people or the extent of its territory as in the extent and justice of its compassion".

Answer: The Red Location Museum of the People's Struggle

Red Location is one of the oldest townships of Port Elizabeth. The name comes from the reddish colour of the shacks that were built mostly from corrugated iron. The Red Location Museum of the People's Struggle was built on the site where one of the first passive resistance campaigns against the pass laws occurred in 1952.

The material used for the museum reflects those used for the shacks. Migrant workers on South Africa's mines kept "memory boxes" to remind them of their homes in the countryside.

The Red Location Museum is in itself one big memory box. There are twelve of these "memory boxes" with different photographic and art exhibitions about the struggle against apartheid. In the museum is a hall of columns that commemorates those who gave their lives in the struggle against apartheid.

Answer: Mendi Memorial

During the First World War the troopship SS Mendi was transporting members of the South African Native Labour Corps to France. On 21 February 1917, she was struck by the SS Darro in heavy fog off the coast of the Isle of Wight. 616 South-Africans (607 of which were black troops) as well as 30 British crew members died in the disaster.

It was reported that the men of the SS Mendi met their fate with great dignity while being calmed by their chaplain, Reverend Isaac Dyobha. The captain of the SS Darro was found to be at fault for "having travelled at a dangerously high speed in thick fog, and of having failed to ensure that his ship emitted the necessary fog sound signals." Two South-African Navy ships were named in honour of those who have perished namely the SAS Mendi and the SAS Isaac Dyobha.

Answer: Emlotheni Memorial Park

In the 1950s and 1960s Emlotheni Square was a meeting ground for anti-apartheid activists and local residents. On 6 November 1964, six members of the African National Congress' military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe were executed here. The Emlotheni Memorial Park is now a resting place for these freedom fighters. "Emlotheni" is a Xhosa word meaning "a plot (of land)".