Many people lived on Thesen Island when it owned by Thesen & Co.

I started working in the Thesen Islands Sales Centre in December 1998, soon after the Centre was built next to the Boat Shed.

The Thesen & Co operations were, of course, in full swing. We were intruders into their world. Not welcomed, but tolerated. We were not allowed through the main gate and would not be for 6 to 9 months. Barloworld was selling the island to the Thesen Islands Development Company. Virtually all factories and other buildlings would be demolished. Everyone there would lose their jobs. The people - families - who lived in the staff houses - would lose their homes. Why would we be welcomed?  

So we worked side by side in an uneasy relationship. Eventually we got access to the Island. Pegs were fixed marking the outline of what would be come Ferry,  Hammock and the east edge of  Plantation Islands. I would drive down the planned waterway between Jubilee & Plantation Islands with prospective buyers, the metre high grass parting like water at the front of the car, and passing the sides. "This is how it will be in your boat!", I'd say. A very low boat sitting low in the water.    

A small platform was built on the far east of Hammock which demonstrated what the ground level of the Islands would be after they were raised, using the sand dug out for the waterways. It was all make believe and the early buyers were those who could use their imagination. The downpayment was a hefty 20% and we had to get a significant number of sales before Investec would commit financing.  The pressure was on.

Meanwhile the the locals opposed to the redevelopment were denigrating it to anyone who would listen, including prospective buyers. After years of complaining about the pollution from factory, they didn't want it to go. But the time of having a factory on a prime piece of land in the middle of Knysna Lagoon had passed. Barloworld was cashing in. Other people wanted the island to be turned into a park, overlooking who would pay for the years of pollution that needed to be cleaned up. The island was owned by a public company with obligations to shareholders and the sale paid for the clean up. Others were just bitter that someone, other than them, would benefit. "It will never happen" they'd cry.  There was the American lawyer with a leather bag full of papers under his arm, who said the buildings would sink into the sand. Building on Thesen Islands, he said was "akin to building on marbles!"   

But people would be losing jobs, about 600. Other jobs would replace them in the construction of Thesen Islands; one example, the stonepacked gabions of the waterways were built by hand. 

Then the constuction of the houses fuelled a boom. If you were in Knysna in the early 2000's you know what I mean. You couldn't get a seat at Harry B's in Main Road on a Friday or Saturday nights. Nor at Oldes when a rugby game was on. Construction bro's everywhere. It was good times for many.

I managed to get a tour of the factory in the last days. I had my camera with me and shot a roll of photos which I now can't find anywhere. Thank you for Trevor Johnson for sharing his collection.  What is sad is that no one thought of making a good photographic record of the Thesen & Co factories and their workers. 

So we are lucky that we have photos of some of the houses that some of the workers and their families lived in. According to Trevor Johnson, there were about 20 in total. Houses were knocked down and added as the factory expanded. The workers who lived on the island were power station and engineering staff who worked shifts around the clock.    

 

Go to this post see see the location of the Compound where workers from the Eastern Cape were housed.     

The palm tree can be seen on Quill Island. There was a small aluminium plaque on the tree which had the names of the family who planted it/lived there and the dates. Sadly, it was stolen by one of our idiots.

There is a date - Dec 83 - on the back of this photo.

In the background is the rubble of 3 demolished brick houses that ran east to west at what is now the south side of Plantation Island. House were usually timber, like the one in this picture.  

2 views of the same house.