District Six Museum -

The District Six Museum puts a face to the people who were resettled from this area as a result of Apartheid laws.

I was amazed at how it connected me with them in a matter-of-fact but incredibly moving way - and I've been familiar with the story behind the museum for years.

The background to the District Six Museum

District Six was established in the mid 1800's. The community represented a cross section of ‘real’ Cape Town society at the time - freed slaves, merchants, skilled artisans, labourers, Malay immigrants - pretty much everyone except the aristocracy in fact!

In the late 1800's there was an outbreak of bubonic plague in the City. The authorities blamed native African residents and used the outbreak as an excuse to move them away from the city - the beginning of racial resettlement.

The more prosperous residents began to move away to the suburbs and so began a decades-long slide into disrepair. District Six became run-down and neglected, but the sense of community still thrived.

Finally in 1966 the death knell sounded. The apartheid government declared District Six a ‘whites-only’ area and began removing residents to the Cape Flats and bulldozing their homes. Finally they produced a blank ‘canvas’ of land on which to paint their own picture.

What’s the most amazing exhibit in the District Six Museum?

For me it was this map on the floor, minutely marked by individual families to show their home number and street.

I was looking up (it’s a double volume space) and felt the floor alter beneath my feet.

I looked down and -- bam! -- I was drawn into another world...

Another telling visual reference is the old street signs. Slightly battered, but otherwise intact – who saved them from being tossed out in the rubble? They are poignant reminders of pointless destruction.

More than lots to see...

The District Six Museum is small, and that’s part of its attraction – you don’t feel overwhelmed by what’s on display. But even more importantly, there are places where you can listen to the voices of District Six, and be transported back to the '60’s with it’s fashions and hairstyles.

Real people, living history

District Six’s story is a recent one. As with the Robben Island tour, you meet people involved in this Museum who lived the experiences that you are seeing commemorated. One such person is Noor, to whom I spoke while studying photographs of his brother’s engagement party – their last family celebration before moving out.

Elsewhere you can read his story about losing his flock of homing pigeons, which never learned to call his new house “home”. It gives you a jolt to realise how many subtle levels of loss were involved for the people of District Six.

Not over yet!

There’s so much to this story and it’s not over yet. Rebuilding is underway albeit painfully slowly. Pay a visit to the District Six Museum, you won’t regret it!