Vetnews | Augustus 2024 30 « BACK TO CONTENTS Onderstepoort: the Ladies of Old Res Written by Annette Boshoff and Heloise Heyne of the Veterinary History Society of South Africa Old Res was inaugurated by Sir Arnold Theiler on 14 April 1924. For a short spell in the 1950s, a portion of the southern end of the ground floor was partitioned (maybe the original spermskerm - Ed.) to house female students. The story unfolds… It is not known where the first four female graduates stayed whilst they studied at Onderstepoort. They were Joan Morice (BVSc 1927), Maud Bales (BSVc 1946), Mavis McLoughlin (BVSc 1948) and Joan Verdurmen (BVSc 1953). However, Margaret Rose, the fifth graduate who qualified early in 1953, lodged with the Onderstepoort station master’s family. Malie Smuts (BVSc 1955), the sixth female graduate had a room in the house of Prof SWJ van Rensburg and his family. Albré de Jager (BVSc 1957), the seventh female graduate stayed in the matron’s flat (south of the dining hall) for the duration of her studies. The eighth graduate was Lente Hansen (née van der Merwe) who also graduated in 1957 and logged with Prof JD (Daan) Smit and his family in one of the staff houses on the Onderstepoort grounds to the east of Old Res. When Ingrid Wolleschak, arrived at Onderstepoort for her second year (the first year has always been presented at the main campus or at any of a selected few South African Universities), she and Albré stayed in the matron’s flat in 1955 and 1956. Albré stayed in the bedroom with an en suite bathroom and Ingrid in the adjacent sitting room. This meant that Ingrid had to go through Albré’s bedroom to get to the bathroom and Albré had to walk through Ingrid’s ‘bedroom’ to exit the flat. The matron’s flat was not needed at that time, because Prof Tom Adelaar was the housefather and his wife, Cornelia, was the matron. The Adelaars stayed in the houseparents’ house. Then a novel plan was born. A portion of Old Res was partitioned off to accommodate some of the female students. Thus, three or four rooms and the closest bathroom at the southern end of the ground floor were freed up for the ladies to stay in Old Res. They entered their part of the residence through the door at the southern end of the building. In 1957, Ingrid (BVSc IV), Anne Lize Pienaar (then BVSc II) and Rosemarie Müller (also BVSc II) stayed in these rooms. At the end of the year, Rosemarie discontinued her studies and Anne Lize’s parents moved to Pretoria North. Anne Lize stayed with them from her third year onward. In 1958, when Ingrid was in her final year, she was joined by Ada SchmidtDumont and Truuske Gerdes (both BVSc II). … but there is still missing information How long were female students accommodated in Old Res? Did Ada and Truuske stay there until they qualified and if so, who joined them in the other room(s)? Could it have been Georgina Crewe, Adele Faul or Marianna Thomson who arrived at Onderstepoort in 1960? All three ladies qualified in 1963. How many rooms were set aside for female students? When did this arrangement come to an end and the new female students of Onderstepoort had to find lodgings with staff members or the tannies of Pretoria North like Maryke Henton did? The number of female graduates remained very low until 1978. The intake increased from three in 1978 to 16 in 1979. Can one assume that the rise in female admissions in 1976 was when the ‘spermskerm’ was devised in the New Res and females were again accommodated in the Onderstepoort residences? Ingrid Roos (née Wolleschak) BVSc 1958 Ingrid qualified at the end of 1958 as the ninth female graduate of Onderstepoort. She married her classmate, Neels Roos, the following year on 31 October. After qualifying, Ingrid joined a practice in Pietermaritzburg. When she married Neels Roos, she worked as a locum in Johannesburg and for the SPCA and later as a state veterinarian at the Allerton Laboratories until early 1962, when she and Neels returned to Pretoria. Ingrid then had the joy of being a stay-at-home mother for 17 years after the birth of their three daughters. In January 1979, the then Dean of the Onderstepoort Faculty requested Ingrid to head up the veterinary nursing course (established in 1977). In this capacity, Ingrid had a most fulfilling professional career for 15 years until her retirement. Lente Hansen’s reminiscence of her time at Onderstepoort was told in the VetNews of June 2018. Maryke Henton’s story was told in the VetNews issue of March this year.
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