| St Helena National Trust Newsletter 9 |
| June 2005 |
Recent suddenly swift developments regarding an International Airport, and a new Development Board which gives space to only ONE member of Civil Society has left some of us very concerned for the future. There is no direct representation for the Environment. The best the Trust could do was support the nomination of Dale Bowers whose impartiality and ability we respect, and who will do his best to represent all of Civil Society on a Board of 4 Government people, 3 Private Sector, and one Civil Society member. We can only hope that the voice of the majority of the people will be listened to as we move forward to a new and uncertain future for the island, with the wish that St. Helenians overseas can return to help build it, despite the fact that salaries will not improve for some time. The DFID team visit was very positive, and we all felt their genuine concern that the development should always benefit the island and all of its people. Here is an extract from a vision of 2015, from the Tourism Master Plan 1997-2012, which I share:- All in all. St. Helena remains, in the year 2015, a great place to live. It has good access to Europe, the States and South Africa. It has a stronger economy with less dependence on the British Government. The island is well planned, its Heritage and nature is protected; it got its act together early enough and has managed to avoid many of the problems experienced elsewhere on small islands. Tourists love St. Helena’s clean, tranquil and peaceful atmosphere. Although the town centre and waterfront is busy, many these days come to walk and explore the island’s heritage attractions, museum and interpretation centres. Lots of foreign investors want to get in on this carefully nurtured bit of paradise, but the St. Helenians always gently say the same thing “Thanks, but no thanks – we like it the way it is and we intend to keep it that way.” This will sadly be my last Newsletter,( printed by our new Printech printer) as I complete my three year contract in mid August. I have very much enjoyed my work at the National Trust Office – indeed it fulfilled a wish that I could somehow help young people to appreciate their island's precious and unique heritage more, and I hope that I have been able to do that in a very small way. I hope you enjoy the Newsletter, and I thank all of you for your support during the last three years.
Barbara B. George
PROJECTS The MUSEUMLIFT is finally installed and ready to be used. Unfortunately Mr. Beadon passed away before becoming the first person to ride on it as he had been promised. We thank the RMS Charities Fund for the generous donation which enabled this to be purchased, and posthumous thanks to Tommy Dunne whose invaluable voluntary labour helped to install it. Mrs. Edith Timm continues as Acting Curator, for which she deserves our thanks, and we expect Lucy Caesar back in January , having completed her degree course. The FLAX MUSEUM . Work has started on renovating the interior of the very dirty old Pipe Building section with the Robey Engine. This is being supervised by Nick Thorpe, to whom we are grateful, and work is being done by Colin Yon, with payment from the Bryan Guinness Trust obtained through UKOTCF. Display Boards are being designed by Ryan Moyce who trained in Graphic Design. We are holding a Reminiscence session soon and have identified a number of former flax workers to attend and tell us their stories. Some of these will be recorded on video and audio tape. There are over 60 names on the list of former workers. It is hoped that the Display Boards can be ready to come on the sailing of the RMS from UK in November.
SCHOOL PACKS AND NHR Both these Projects identified at the start have proved to take up a tremendous amount of time, and the latter is impossible to complete with only one full time staff member, and the increasing work of the Trust . The Council is considering applying for a Grant to make this a proper contract, so that it can be completed. The School Packs are gradually being finished – the number of 15 was very ambitious, when one considers that recently a job was advertised for 18 months to do 6 similar packs for the Falklands and Ascension. Ours will necessarily not be as detailed as if time could be given to them exclusively, but they cannot but be still very helpful, and can be added onto in the years to come. Indeed when my contract ends, I will still be aware of these as I do more research in the Archives.
LOCAL TELEVISION PROGRAMMES The whole series has not yet started, although filming for two is in hand, but the National Trust contributed a third of the cost of making the DVD for World Environment Week, after convincing the Environmental Coordinator that Jamestown The DVD which runs for 17 minutes, focuses on Jamestown and its heritage. The script was written by Isabel Peters and Gina Benjamin of Development and Economic Planning Department. Copies are on sale from the National Trust at £10 each.
THE BRIARS Cable and Wireless announced their intention to demolish the Briars building, formerly used as the Exiles Club, in 2003. The Trust had written at the time asking about this, and was told that the Building Authority had approved it, hence their overseas architect had already drawn up plans for redevelopment. This is a typical colonial building of 100 years ago made from iron/tin, and it is indeed a pity to see it go.
MILLENNIUM FOREST: Working for Gumwood Conservation: young people take action In the April school holidays, a small but enthusiastic group of New Horizons members took time out to help collect seed from the Gumwoods growing at Peak Dale. Seed collection is a vital part of action for gumwood conservation, providing a source of seedlings to replant back at Peak Dale and elsewhere. Natural regeneration at Peak Dale is very low and not enough to sustain the long term survival of the forest. The young volunteers collected bags full of seed by scrambling across the steep slopes and through sometimes spiteful undergrowth with its hidden blackberry thorns to reach as many trees as possible or, climbing a ladder in flatter areas to reach seed from taller trees. Some of the seed will be passed on to the Environmental Conservation Section of the ANRD and some will be given to the Millennium Forest. Peak Dale is the last wild gumwood wood on the Island, where about 1,000 predominantly mature gumwoods grow nestled on the southern slopes of the ridges overlooking Sandy Bay. As the number of trees is so few the future of the Peak Dale wood would be threatened without direct intervention for its conservation. Efforts since the mid 1980s have included fencing off the site to deter browsing by cattle and sheep, controlling the growth of exotic weeds and planting young trees, often with the help of school groups and volunteers. In the early 1990s an attack from the Jacaranda Bug caused grave concern for the wood and led to the death of at least 100, mostly young trees. The swift implementation of biological control measures using an introduced ladybird predator brought the attack under control, so that today although infected trees can still be found at Peak Dale the ladybird limits the scale of the problem. However despite these efforts, Peak Dale gumwoods are still struggling to survive and regenerate and remain a great cause for concern. There are insufficient resources to cope with the invasion of alien plant and animal species that threaten the forest. The need to address this issue was identified in the recent workshops to establish a strategy to implement St Helena’s Commitments under its Environmental Charter and an action plan was drawn up. A younger group of volunteers visited the Millennium Forest later in the week. They too did some seed collecting, with smaller trees the seed was much easier to reach. A quick game of hide & seek showed how much cover the older trees now provide before returning to the small nursery beside the car park for some potting on. The morning was completed with everyone helping to plant 17 gumwoods and each child left with one of the gumwoods that they had potted on to care for and plant in their own gardens. Well done and thank you for your help Scott, Joelle, Elizabeth, Liam, James, Max and Joshua.
OTEP Peaks Project -What’s so special about the Peaks? The Peaks arguably themost special place on St Helena, where remnants of our original cloud forest - an extraordinarily biologically rich habitat – survive. But what arethe Peaks? The Peaks are part of the central ridge which forms a huge curve around Sandy Bay from Hoopers Rock (>700m) in the west, northeastwards via the Depot (>670m), High Peak (798m) and Mount Vesey (>740m) on to Casons Gate (>690m) and east along the Sandy Bay Ridge to Stiches Ridge and to the three Peaks – often referred to as the Peaks - of Cuckhold’s Point (800m), Diana’s Peak, the highest point of the Island at 820m, and Mount Actaeon the southern most extension of the ridge. The Central ridge has much higher rainfall than elsewhere on the Island, and for much of the time is shrouded in mist. And, what is a Cloud Forest? Think cloud forests and some people might think of South America and Costa Rica, but St Helena too can proclaim to have its own unique cloud forest. Cloud forests are unique ecosystems that occur only in specific tropical mountain areas. They are:
Low cloudbanks form over the mountains such that the forest is actually immersed in clouds much of the time. When this happens, the relative humidity is 100%, making cloud forests exceedingly wet places. Water is deposited directly onto vegetation from clouds and light mist. This regular supply of above-ground water makes a cloud forest excellent habitat for epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants). Tree fern and Cabbage tree trunks are almost always covered with mosses, ferns, seedlings of other plants of the forest and other plants. The operation of evolution would suggest that the endemic vegetation which has developed there would become well adapted to intercepting the water from mists as well as rainfall. The distinctive weather conditions make them suitable for hundreds of plants and animals to survive that can be found nowhere else on Earth.
What value the Peaks ? – St Helena’s own unique cloud forest Most of the plants and animals of the Peaks are found nowhere else on Earth. And we should be reminded that this is “a heritage not just for St Helenian’s but for all humans; we shall be the poorer if they cannot be saved” (Philip & Myrtle Ashmole, 2000). 1. Rich biological heritage
One of which is the Critically Endangered Large Bellflower It is home to an amazing variety of over 300 species of endemic invertebrate (of c.420 endemic species for the whole island) The Spiky Yellow Woodlouse pictured right has only been recorded from High Peak. It’s ancient invertebrates like this that are our equivalent of Dinosaurs.
Critically Endangered Toothed-Tongue Fern pictured right only survives in a few places along the Central Ridge
Any losses, like the extinction of the St Helena Olive in 2003, mean a loss to global biodiversity. 2. Water Catchment The majority of streams or guts that supply much of the surface water for St Helena have their sources within the upland areas. Water demands are only set to rise with the development on an airport and associated development. Managing our water catchments to optimize ground water recharge and surface water runoff will make an important contribution to the Island’s available water resources. 3. History – experimental & unsustainable land use practises. Since 1502 the island’s landscape has been shaped by man. The decline of the Peaks habitats coincides with attempts in history to establish economic prosperity through agriculture: pasture, forestry and attempts at establishing other agricultural crops such as quinine and most recently flax. Jellico pictured here, was one of the few endemics that was eaten. Growing in the guts of the Peaks, the long stems were cut and taken to market to sell, probably as a rich source of vitamin C. 4. Amenity and tourism The Peaks are an attractive landscape that is interesting to explore for locals and tourists alike. Wildlife tourism is a small industry now that has potential to grow. If tourism is to be sustained we must make sure we protect the very assets upon which our industry will be based. 5. Scientific value St Helena’s endemics largely represent ancient forms of species long since extinct elsewhere in the world (with some local evolution). The plants and animals of the Peaks are the most ancient and peculiar of our endemics with closest relatives as far apart as Australisia, South America, and the Pacific Islands. The Whitewood (not to be confused with Whiteweed), our most peculiar endemic has its most closest relative in French Polynesia. These unusual endemic genera are an important resource for science, with potential for studying extinctions and evolution in adjacent continental regions and in-situ evolution. Having explored the central ridge, the most special thing I feel about the Peaks is that despite being desperately small in size, many of the plants and their attendant animals that make up this unique cloud forest ecosystem are still there. Let’s make sure they are there for future generations to enjoy. Why not explore this unique ecosystem for yourself or visit on one of our guided walks. For further information contact Rebecca Cairns-Wicks on 4419 or email the National Trust at sth.nattrust@helanta.sh
PRESENTATION OF A PRECIOUS SOUVENIR OF 1868 TO THE ST. HELENA NATIONAL TRUST Mr and Mrs. Brian Odgers arrived in April, on a nostalgic visit to the island from Australia. In 1874, Brian's grandfather, Harold Fielding Odgers, aged 20, was en route to England from Melbourne, Australia, with his family, taking his father, who was ill, back to his homeland. They travelled on the sailing ship "Shannon", and he kept a detailed diary of the voyage. There are 3 pages describing the visit to St. Helena, starting 24 May 1874, which add to our knowledge of the island at that time. While they were here, they visited Lady Ross, wife of the former Governor, and bought the souvenir which Brian has now presented to the Trust. He also met the Governor of the time, Hudson Ralph Janisch. This little book – " Views of St. Helena 1868" contains several poems about the island, and 8 beautiful tinted coloured plates, and is a valuable reminder of the past. It was printed in 1868 by Vincent Brooks, Day and Son of London and Mr. Odgers has had it restored to bring it here. It is a remarkable example of printing of that era, and is a beautiful book. The Director is delighted to accept this wonderful gift on behalf of the Trust, and wishes to thank Mr. and Mrs. Odgers for their thoughtfulness and generosity. Mr. And Mrs. Odgers would like to thank the people they have met on their visit here, for their friendliness and hospitality. This trip has been a dream for many years and they are very happy to have been able to visit St. Helena, and retrace some of his grandfather's footsteps of 130 years ago.
THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION Queensland A visitor who travels to Australia brought us some brochures and key rings from St. Helena Island near Brisbane, Queensland, which was very kind. This was a prison island for men for 60 years from 1867. Described as the "hell hole of the Pacific", the punishments were severe in the early years, and the island secure against escape. It evolved into becoming something of a model prison, when prisoners were encouraged to farm and follow trades. They even boasted a prize dairy herd! The last prisoner left in 1933.
Melbourne
St Helena – Commonwealth Games, Melbourne, 2006 The athletes attending the Commonwealth Games from the various nations are to be hosted by different municipalities as part of a scheme to establish on going cultural exchange between the municipalities and the Commonwealth countries. St Helena is to be hosted by Mornington Peninsula Shire, which is very appropriate given the St Helena connection with the Balcombe family and their property “The Briars” at Mt Martha within the Shire. The Shire will also be hosting Bermuda and the Falkland Islands. The Homestead, now a National Trust of Victoria property, hosts the largest Napoleonic Collection in the southern hemisphere due to a bequest from a Balcombe descendant, Dame Mabel Brookes, who also purchased the original Briars on St Helena and presented it to the French Government many years back. The farm property is now operated by the Shire for the public with nature walks and wet lands. The Queens Baton Relay has already been to St Helena aboard the RMS St Helena, staying for a week during the Island’s National Day in May. Their team is likely to comprise two trap shooters and possibly a marathon runner and a disabled power lifter. The Shire will arrange welcomes for the teams and activities, and our Briars will take part hosting a visit to the Mt Martha Briars.
ARMY GUILD OF ST. HELENA Someone wrote to say they had purchased a medal on e-bay. Not knowing anything about it, I asked our wonderful historian Trevor Hearl, who corresponded with the lady and tried to research the background to the story of this medal, which we presently feel may have nothing to do with the island, but rather the Saint. If any reader has more information, please get in touch.
Climate change Professor Colin Lewis of Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, revisited St Helena for three weeks in May and June this year. Last year he delivered a public lecture under the auspices of The National Trust on evidence for climate change. He also collected bone and other samples from sediments in Fisher’s Valley, Prosperous Bay valley and Sandy Bay valley in order to date former climatic and environmental events on our island, Professor Lewis now reports as follows: “Among the samples I collected last year, with the aid of Edward Thorpe, were bones collected about 7 m below the surface of unconsolidated sediments in Prosperous Bay valley. At least another 4 m of unconsolidated sediment existed beneath those bones, but bedrock was not exposed and those soft sediments may have been considerably over 4 m deep. The bones were too fragmentary for full identification, but Professor Adrian Craig of Rhodes University, who specialises in ornithology, was satisfied that they were bird bones. I sent them to the Quaternary Dating Research Unit in Pretoria and they were discovered to be over 4,000 years old (the exact radio-carbon age will be quoted in the formal scientific publication). This means that the unconsolidated sediments that underlay them were deposited more than 4,000 years ago. In 1975 Storrs Olson, in his masterly paper on the ‘Paleornithology of St. Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean’, suggested that bird bones in Prosperous Bay valley’…are obviously very recent [in age].’ Ashmole (1963) had already suggested that these deposits were ‘probably hundreds rather than thousands of years old.’ Olson wrote that ‘In most instances, bones were lying exposed on weathered deposits of sediment and needed only to be picked up.’ He dug into some of the deposits in Prosperous Bay valley, but there is no indication that he collected bones from any great depth. Ashmole (1963) also appears to have collected from surficial sediments. Olson (1975) suggested that bird bones in Prosperous Bay valley were younger than those at other sites he examined on St Helena. Chemical analyses by Dr P. E. Hare (reported in Olson, 1975) confirmed that the bones submitted to him by Olson from Prosperous Bay valley appeared to be younger than bones Olson submitted from other sites (Sugarloaf (two sites), Dry Gut): ‘the bones from Prosperous Bay had appreciable amounts of collagen, whereas those from Sugar loaf Sites 1 and 3 and Dry Gut did not.’ Hare divided the bones submitted to him into three time periods, those from Prosperous Bay valley being the most recent, Sugar loaf Site 3 and Dry Gut being of middle period, and Sugarloaf Site 1 being the oldest. He cautiously stated that ‘Specimens from both the middle and oldest periods…are more altered from the original bone than a sample…from Maryland [USA] of approximately 60,000 years old…they date from well back in the Pleistocene.’ Barnes (1817) stated that, at Sugarloaf, ‘small bones and eggshells’ exist in ‘a dark, friable earth, two or three feet in depth’ on top of limestone [shell-rich sand]. Darwin (1844) also wrote that ‘the bones of birds’ exist in ‘the upper beds of the limestone’ in a quarry on Sugar-Loaf Hill. If these bones and eggshells exist in ‘the limestone’ [shelly-sand] they may, as Hare’s findings suggest, be of Pleistocene age. The Pleistocene ended about 11,000 years ago and was succeeded by the Holocene, in which we still live. The date obtained from the 7 m deep sample in Prosperous Bay valley proves that at least some of the bones in that valley are ‘thousands of years old’. Since the sediments in which they were deposited were water-laid it also shows that wet conditions existed in the mid-Holocene. During this year’s field work (2005) samples were collected from near the surface in Prosperous Bay valley in order to ascertain the youngest age at which appreciable amounts of water-laid sediments were deposited in that valley. Other bird bones were collected form sites on Sugarloaf, Dry Gut, Potato Bay and in the vicinity of Lot’s Wife’s Ponds, while mammal bones were collected in Sandy Bay valley. The stratigraphy was recorded at all these sites. Emma Bennett very kindly provided modern fish bones (Chubb Mackerel) that will be used as a control in radio-carbon dating. The next stage in this research is the submission of the bird bones to Dr Philip Ashmole for identification. They will then be sent for radio-carbon dating, which should indicate the time-periods at which different birds and different climatic conditions existed in St Helena, and should show whether or not the oldest bones are of Pleistocene age. (My suspicion is that they are not!). Unfortunately, this year, I did not find any more bones at appreciable depth in Prosperous Bay valley, although I worked there in miserably wet conditions and more leisurely research under more clement conditions might well show that they exist. If the access road for the proposed airport is built through the lower part of Prosperous Bay valley and the adjoining valley leading to the Signal Tower, it is likely that road building excavation will reveal bone samples at a variety of levels and in a variety of sediments. I hope that, if this occurs, the developers will fund a full scientific study of these remains, since St Helena is located in a crucial mid-ocean area and should provide palaeo-climatic information that will aid scientific understanding of the global oceanic current circulations which are believed to drive global climates. I thank Dr David Kewn for accompanying me on most of my collecting trips, the National Trust, Miss Peters and her staff and Mrs Bennett in the relevant government departments for their support, and His Excellency, the Governor, for his interest in this important project. Colin A. Lewis, June 2005. References Ashmole, N. P. (1963) ‘The extinct avifauna of St Helena Island’, Ibis, 103b, 390-408. Barnes, J. (1817) A tour through the island of St Helena, Richardson, London. Darwin, C. (1844) Geological observations on the volcanic islands visited during the voyage of H. M. S. Beagle, Smith, Elder and Co., London. Olson, S. L. (1975) ‘Paleornithology of St. Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean’, Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 23, 49pp.
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