Vetnews | November 2024 22 « BACK TO CONTENTS Huis Onderstepoort in the 1960s Sir Arnold Theiler inaugurated a new student residence on 14 April 1924. This grand old building became known as Old Res when additional accommodation blocks were built. The number of beds available grew from 40 in Old Res to close to 700 at the OP Village complex as of today. To commemorate the historic event, a reunion was held on 5 April 2024 that included a visit to the South African National Veterinary Museum, CPD talks, a tour of the state-of-the-art skills laboratory at the Onderstepoort Faculty and a dinner at the OP Village Clubhouse on Friday 5 April (see VetNews May 2024). The festivities continued the following day with live music and food and drinks stalls on the sports fields of OP Village on Saturday 6 April (see VetNews June 2024). The celebrations included a chance to visit an exhibition in the Common Room where memorabilia was put on display and a timeline of traditions depicted on a 9-meter-long banner created by Cecilia van der Walt and Sarah Biesman-Simons of the Centenary Committee (see VetNews September 2024). Dok Faffa Malan remembers the ‘good old days’ at Huis Onderstepoort The new arrivals at Onderstepoort had to learn everyone’s names [which must have been achievable in those days when there were between 30 and 45 students per class]. One of the tasks of the second years was to light the cigarettes of the 5th-year senior students while kneeling and when striking Libido [Leon] Loots’ cigarettes, we had to say: “Donderbalkie, bron van lig, Enigste hoop vir donker Afrika. Brand, Bliksem, brand!” Other hardships included waiting in line to use the pay phone [probably using a long tiekie] and getting left out in the boondocks after midnight: no clothes, no shoes and no idea where we were. Although there were only a dozen or so female students at Onderstepoort during my time, the ladies from the main campus visited Onderstepoort on occasion. First-year ladies were blindfolded on their first visit to Onderstepoort and their inside leg length had to be measured with a tape measure while they were standing on a table in front of everyone in the Rec Room. Their own (female) seniors did the measuring, but the blindfolded innocent girls were led to believe it was the OP boys doing it. Right under the nose of the housefather, Dick Loveday (see VetNews September 2024), one had to check whether there were not already girls showering before taking a shower over the weekends. Apart from the visits of the ladies to uplift the spirits of the OP Boys, there were the visits to the Hi-Way Hotel – every single visit was memorable (even though the words of many of the songs have been forgotten). In this edition of VetNews, two students of the 1960s share their memories of yesteryear at Onderstepoort. This is the second last of twelve articles to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of Old Res, compiled by Annette Boshoff and Heloise Heyne. Dr Faffa Malan
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