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Wander the World: Discovering the wonders of Moster’s Mill · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is time for our travel segment Wander the World,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: and we are wandering in our very own backyard today
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: as we shine the spotlight on one of Cape Town's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: most distinctive landmarks. Mostet's Mill has occupied its spot in
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the shadow of Devil's Peak since the are seventeen to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: ninety six. It is the oldest surviving complete windmill in
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: South Africa and the last working windmill in Africa. But
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: as you will know, it has been through a lot
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: in recent years. Most noted be the fact that just
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: one day after the completion of a six year restoration project,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: it was burnt in the fire that destroyed parts of uct,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: starting all over again. It took another three years for
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: it to be rebuilt and restored, and we are going
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to have a conversation today with the man who is
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: in charge of that restoration. I want to, though, first
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: thank our listener Don who wrote to me saying please
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: get this guest onto the show, because Don and some
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: of his family members had the opportunity to do a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: tour of Mostets Mill some time ago and said the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: distant past and the most recent restoration make for the
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: most fascinating history. From the acquisition of the wood to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: replace all that was burned, to the technical work that
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: went into constructing the lathe for the year, the break
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and the cap rings. It was astounding. Don thank you
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: so much for pointing us in the direction of the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: story of Most at Smull. And it's a huge pleasure
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: to welcome on the line. Andy self, who is somebody
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: who has studied both windmills and water mills in depth,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: has been involved in the restoration of a number of
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: different mills in addition to Most at Smell And maybe
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: we'll have time to talk about some of those others.
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  Speaker 1: But Andy, Firstley, thank you for making yourself available to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: us on a public holiday. We really appreciate your time
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and welcome to the show.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Papa. Yes, it's good speaking. You've you've said
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: everything that needs to be.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: If you finished. Okay, sorry about that.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: And yeah, one thing we must get dry is that
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: I was only in charge of the moving parts, the
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: working parts, okay. The building, the floors, the beams, the windows,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the doors, and the roof were all in the in
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: the sphere of John Wilson Harris of Fagan's Architects.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, thanks for for clarifying that, Andy, and I appreciate
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: that we get to acknowledge his role as well. Thank
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you for that. Andy. Before we talk about the restoration
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and the history of most Ittsmell itself, just tell us
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a little bit about your backstory and where the fascination
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: with water and windmills actually began for you.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Well, it's I'm an agricultural mechanic by trade, or I've
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: got a business in that line, and I was I'm
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: also a collector of stationary engines, and I was introduced
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: twenty years ago to the water mill at Beaumont Wines.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: That's Compania's drift right in the middle of bot River,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and that was made four times when there was no
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: water to be driven by a stationary engine. So I
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: brought an engine of mine down there and we got
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the mill going, part of the mill going in a
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks. But that started a four year every Saturday,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: every spem minute restoration of that water mill to work
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: with water again. And now we operate that once a
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: month and it brings a lot of people there and
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: it's an added attraction to the winery and the deli
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and everything else that's on the farm. So that started,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: and during that time I was asked to help out
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: at LaMotte, and I'm actually today working on an aspect
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: of LaMotte's mill, which has also been gradually we've been
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: upgrading that one. We're going to be making a new
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: water wheel for that, and I'm working on the millstones
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: at the moment, so we are going to have that
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  Speaker 2: one running absolutely perfectly again, really for the first time
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: since doctor Rupert brought the equipment from a farm in
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Series many years ago. So that and then also in
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: those four years, I was asked to help at Mostarts
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: mill with those upgrades, which spread over six years. In fact,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: we did one aspect and then we milled for a
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: while and it was better, and then we said, okay,
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  Speaker 2: well now we've got some money in from the gate,
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  Speaker 2: let's tackle the next one. And those restorations, those upgrades
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  Speaker 2: really took six years, and as you said, the last
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  Speaker 2: of them, the sixth one, we finished the afternoon before
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  Speaker 2: the fire.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable story. And he will get back to the fire
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: and to that restoration shortly, but let's go way back
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: in the past. So thank you for the sort of
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: context for the conversation, and fantastic to how much work
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: is being done on the water mills as well. This
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  Speaker 1: Mustard's Mill, though, is unique in being the windmill that
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: is the last working windmill in Africa. What do we
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  Speaker 1: know about its early history? We know the date seventeen
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: ninety six appears on the structure, but how much do
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: we know about how it came to be there and
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: who actually built the original mill.
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  Speaker 2: It was built byton Rhiannon and it gets the name
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  Speaker 2: Mustard from his son in law. It was built at
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  Speaker 2: the sort of tailor end of the Voces control over
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: food and milling and all the other food supply. Their
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: late seventeen hundreds they were face of fiddling, fizzling out
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the voc And it's a half size mill. It's a
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: small farm mill. If you go to Livemullen in Alexandra
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  Speaker 2: Hospital you'll see its double the size. All the Dutch
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: mills that double the size. So this is a mini
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  Speaker 2: farm mill made for the Fernery Andums and perhaps their
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: neighbors as well in that time. And it must have
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: been used, say from the late seventeen hundreds for well.
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  Speaker 2: Certainly by the time that Rhodes bought that area as
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: part of Kotskiev, it was derelict by that stage. We've
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  Speaker 2: got photographs of it there, so we don't know how
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: long it was used as a as the farm mill
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: before it before it went out of service and perhaps
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: was taken over by the commercial mills, and there were
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: about fifteen of them in Cape Town. And then yeah,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: it was derelict by the early nineteen hundreds. Then in
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: nineteen thirty five it was decided to restore it to
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: working order and a combination of the Dutch government and
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: the South African government the Department of Public Works that
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: own it, decided to restore it to working order and
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: they brought a dutchman over from Holland. He spent about
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: a year here doing a superb job. Rarely they thought
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: that there was just a few beams to replace, but
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: when he got here, he really discovered that it really
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: needed all like I had to do all the wooden
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: parts over again. Did a lovely job and got it
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: back into working order. He was held back here. He
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: was going to have an opening, but then the king
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: died and everybody was in mourning and he had to
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: be kept here until that had passed, and then they
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: had an opening and then so that would have been
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: nineteenth thirty six. I supposed beginning of thirty six. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and then and then it was used again for a
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: tourist attraction, and we are not sure exactly for how long,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: but we do have a photograph, a cutting of the
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: burger which shows that it was used in the for
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: the nineteenth fifty two Rebec festival. So that's the last
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: date that we can pinpoint that it was still in operation.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: There was a miller there in government uniform and he's
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: demonstrating in the run up to the Henriebek Festival. Then
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: it went out of use again and it was only
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: in about ninety four that the Vernacular Society Vernacular Architecture
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  Speaker 2: Society spawned a I think that's right word, a group
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: called Friends of Marstart's Mill, and the decision was to
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: find some money and restore it again. And remember this
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: was one year into the New South Africa, and where
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: is the money going to come from for something that's
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: clearly colonial. Luckily there was there was a fun tucked
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: away that was able to be used. And again Dutch
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: millers mill rights were engaged. But they prefabricated a lot
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: of the stuff in Holland and brought it over and
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: it was assembled. Their parts were assembled in two weeks
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: and Harvey Fagan was still busy on the tower. They
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: couldn't test it and rarely and then they went off
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: on holiday after two weeks, toured the country and climbed
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: on the plane and went home. So after the ninety
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: four restoration, it never rarely worked properly. There was a
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: lot of hiccups, and we rather wonder whether they actually
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: expected us to be seriously milling. But Friends of Master's
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Mill worth serious, are serious, and there's no point in
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: restoring something mechanical like that if it's not going to
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: be used regularly. And the Dutch Volunteer Society their handbook
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  Speaker 2: starts with a statement saying, if a mill is restored
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  Speaker 2: and it's not used on a regular basis within I
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: think ten years fifteen years is going to need restoration again.
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  Speaker 2: So we mill, and so Friends of Master's Mill milled
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: regularly after ninety four ninety five. But we're aware that
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: there were shortcomings with the restoration of ninety four, and
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  Speaker 2: so that was when I was asked to come in
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  Speaker 2: and do these to help with these these upgrades, and
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: they were about a six of them, I think altogether.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: I just want to say for anybody coming into this interview.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Halfway you're listening to Andy self integrally involved in the
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: restoration of Mostatt's Mill and talking to us about the
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: history of this absolutely ariconic cape town landmark and the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: many renovations and restorations it's undergone over the years to
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: keep it in working order. Now, Andy, that second last restoration,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the one that took six years and was done in
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: waves as funds were raised privately to make it possible
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  Speaker 1: a huge project, Do you want to talk to us
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: about some of the more remarkable aspects of what it
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: took to get it back into working order. Our listener Don,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: who wrote to us, was just commenting on how fascinated
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: he was to hear about the technical work that was involved,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the kind of wood that had to be acquired. Can
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: you paint a picture for us of some of the
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  Speaker 1: standout moments of that six year restoration?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I'd prefer to call it upgrade. It was sort
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: of working. We worked on the millstones not properly aligned
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: with one another, and you can imagine a bedstone underneath
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: and a runner stone on the top of it. It
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: must be all pretty accurately matched. So that one said
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: that it said that they come together properly, and as
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: the Dutch say, they they have to meet first before
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: they make love. And so we had to level the bedstone.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: We had to balance the runner stone. There was a
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: loose bearing at the very top of the vertical shaft
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: that had to be stabilized. What else but the big job,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: the last job was the fact that the brakes, because
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: in a windmill you need to be able to stop
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: the mill with a brake in order to reset the
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: sails or reduce the amount of sail cloth that you
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: have exposed to the wind if it's going to pass.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: So you need a break on and the brake. The
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: brake blocks were we think probably the original ones from
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: seventeen ninety six, but they were working on a brake
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: wheel that was brought in nineteen ninety four and that
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: had gone out a round and it wasn't nearly as
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: well made as the one that we did. It comes later,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: but so Don mentioned the lathe. I had to make
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: a temporary lathe and make the brake wheel round again,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: and that meant people turning the sails on the outside,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: so the brake wheel turned while I was able to
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: take a grinding machine across the surface to make it round.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Then we added blocks over the outside to build up
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: the diameter, and then we had to make those blocks
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: round again, and then we had to resize the seventeen
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: ninety six break a block to match the new diameter.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: And that was what we finished and tested. And I've
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: got a one minute video of somebody turning on the outside,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: somebody working on the brake makingism and the break applies,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: and the breaker is released and the break is applied,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: and I said, well, that's what they wanted us to do.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: And of course the next day was all a pile.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Of apsh unbelievable. I mean, Andy, I can't even begin
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: to imagine what went through your mind when you heard
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: that the mill was burning one day after you had
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: successfully tested that.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Take us back to that day.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, did you think the person was having you
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: on when you first got the news that this was happening.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: No, I was well aware, because I'm involved here with
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: a fire protection association. I was well aware that there
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: was a fire. I have a fire engine. It was
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: giving me a bit of trouble, you know, farm type
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: fire engine. I thought of going through. I thought, gee,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: there's a ministerial house next door. Surely they're not going
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: to let it burn. And then the photographs started coming
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: through through our friends in the Fire Protection Association showing
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: worse and worse and worse news. And then of course
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: it was all.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Over, absolutely soul destroying.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: In a way, in a way, it's worked out better
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: because we've you've heard what I said. There were shortcomings
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: in the nineteen ninety five nineteen ninety four restorations, and
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: we are ninety five yah, sorry, and we've now got
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: a windmill that is better than it was after the
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety five restoration, and that all through local craftsmanship.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I was able to We were luckily supported by the
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: We got donations from all around, but the main dono
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: was the Report Historic Houses Foundation, and they with that
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: money behind behind us, it was possible to find the
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: very very best craftsmen in and around Cape Town. Some
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: in Cape Town out they here in Elgin, and we
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: really I was able to say to them, the best
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: job you can possibly do, the best materials you can
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: lay your hands on, and it wasn't necessary to ask
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: for pre bees or discounts and things like that. So
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: these people really, and there were about seven of us
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: altogether doing woodwork depending on our skills and our machinery.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: So somebody who makes big beams like him on in
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Hardbay isn't the right person to ask, perhaps to do
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: the finest cabinet making that was done here by here
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: in cabou. So yeah, I mean it's.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: A remarkable story, and you know several people messaging in
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: to say how much they've enjoyed coming to have the
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: opportunity to see them all. I'm embarrassed to say that
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I've never been been to visit it Andy. After living
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: in Cape Dun since nineteen ninety nine and driving past
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: it so often and always enjoying what I see, I've
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: never been to visit. Let's finish with information on how
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: listeners who are fascinated by the story and want to
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: admire the exquisite work that has been done can come
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and experience it for themselves. Won't you remind us of
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: how the open days work.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: The open days are every third Saturday of every month,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: come hell or no wind, so that means that means
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: this coming Saturday, and we're open from ten until about
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: three in the afternoon, and of course if there's wind
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: then we mill and we go through the whole procedure
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: of setting it up and turning the cup to the
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: wind and all that sort of thing, and then hope
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: that there's enough whend to mill with. So we're not
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: allowed to according to Rhodes as well, we're not allowed
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: to charge for entry. But what we are allowed to
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: do is we make people a member for a year,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: and that costs fifty rands ahead or one hundred rands
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: for a family, and then they get a little ticket
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: and they can come back as many times as they
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: want to on every third Saturday of every month.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, so this coming Saturday, I hope you'll have a
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: horde of new Cape Talk listeners coming to take a look. Andy.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: We so appreciate your time this afternoon, and thank you
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: to you and everybody else who's been involved in this
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: painstaking work to restore it to its a position. And
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I mean just so wonderful to see it working again
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: after the horror of watching it burning. What a happy
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: ending to the story. And thank you so much for
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: sharing it with us this afternoon.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Thanks for the exposure too, Thank you, Thank.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: You Andy self on the line there. Appreciate your time.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: And by the way, the website if you want to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: read up more and remind yourself of the details, or
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: join up as a members of a friend of Mostart's
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: mill you want to be on Mustardsmell dot co dot
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Saturday for more information.