Digging into the history of famous Fish Hoek family

The Fish Hoek Valley Historical Association will hold an illustrated talk on one of Fish Hoek’s most famous families - the Peers family.

The talk will take place at the Fish Hoek Bowling Club on Thursday September 12, at 4.30pm.

Peers Cave was discovered and excavated by amateur archaeologist Victor Peers in 1927. Mr Peers and his son, Bertie, who were residents of Fish Hoek, excavated Peers Cave over several years and discovered and documented Khoisan rock art, stone tools and an ancient burial site.

However, Margaret Gundry, the speaker, who is a volunteer at the Fish Hoek Valley Museum, said the talk would focus more on the family than the cave.

“I have always been interested in history and genealogy,“ she said.

She started researching some of Fish Hoek’s early families and where they lived.

“I have researched the Wakefords, the Balls, the Mossops, the Mullers, the De Villiers family, the Rice family, the Jones family. Even the Greenlands. And the Peers family.”

Before 1950, she said, houses in Fish Hoek had no street numbers, just names so she researched why certain houses had certain names.

“There is a house near Sunny Cove station that was called "Girdleness". I did a bit of research on the family and found out that in 1880 the owner's father was a light and fog signal keeper and near to the home was the Girdleness Lighthouse.

“That was an easy one,” she said, adding that Bertie Peers called his house Inyoko - the Zulu word for snake while his father, Victor, called his Zeenah, the name of the town in Tasmania where he met his wife.

Ms Gundry said her research on the Peers family has extended to New Zealand, where the great-great grandson of Bertie and Bella Peers currently lives. Her talk will be accompanied by slides.

Membership fees for the Fish Hoek Valley Historical Association for 2024 are R50 a person and can be paid at the Fish Hoek Valley Museum or the meeting.

Entry is R20 for members, payable at the door, and R30 for visitors.