Heritage Day was Shaka Day until 1995. In 2005, a campaign got the whole country to agree on one thing: We all love to stand around the fire. Desmond Tutu signed on as patron, the biggest sign that braais are absolutely a blessing. Welcome to Melville Untold, the newsletter that reads better with tongs in your other hand.

In this week’s newsletter,

— Aubrey Moloto, Caroline Koma

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In case you've been living under a rock (or on the koppies), one of Melville's first icons was an archaeologist. In 1963, Revil Mason, a professor at WITS at the time, found a furnace. "Lots of visitors had walked over it, not realising it was there," he said. Carbon dating later put it in use somewhere between 1060 and 1580 AD.

I was one of those visitors for 30 years. I learnt to ride a bike on Melville Koppies West, caught crabs in the stream (the water kind, chill!) and collected bullet shells the Brixton police left on the ridge while they trained for the "civil war" they expected after Mandela's release. Later, the lookout bench on East became my meeting room for Snaps On Seventh.

I was over 30 and already a volunteer before I learnt that a smelter at the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve, built by Sotho-Tswana iron workers, existed. I felt truly empowered as a Sotho-based language speaker.

Yesterday, that smelter left our urban oasis, headed for the city centre. Not permanently, but only a 3D model and digital representation.

Enter UJ Metaverse Research Unit

On Workers' Day, 1 May, fittingly for a site built by iron workers, the University of Johannesburg and the Melville Koppies Management Committee launched the smelter in augmented reality. Hold up your phone on the hill, and the furnace rebuilds itself, then talks you through it in Setswana, isiZulu, Afrikaans or English.

The man behind it is a Melvillain himself, Dr Izak Potgieter of UJ's Metaverse Research Unit, the person who rebuilt Sophiatown in VR for his PhD. "I don't think anyone really knew what I was trying to do when I proposed this project," he told us. Since May, visitor numbers are up. Kids go straight for the visuals; older visitors stay for the story.

At the launch, an older woman went through it in Setswana and said: "I've been living in Johannesburg my whole life. I never knew that we were part of the story." I've seen the same on the Koppies. Sotho/Tswana speakers who'd never heard of the smelter now ask where it comes from, and whether it's theirs. It is. "These are histories which haven't been given the light of day," Izak says. "I don't think we can be a successful country if we don't do that."

After Mason's dig, a model of the smelter went to Museum Africa, and some of today's Koppies committee worked on that exhibit. "It seems quite poetic to retrace the steps of history," Izak says. It also takes out the climb. Not everyone can manage ten minutes up the koppies, and the museum has lifts and ramps. "It's important to make sure that there's universal accessibility to our public history."

The museum is keen. "This one is very exciting because this is going to be modernising our smelting area," says Zola Mtshiza of Museum Africa. "This is the beginning actually of many projects that are still to come."

The launch ran on Heritage Day, 9:30 to 11:30, with talks from UJ and the museum, a short film on how it came together by Snaps On Seventh, with the committee and the neighbourhood, and the AR itself. Izak and Zola cut the ribbon together to unveil it, to a huge round of applause. After that, it's permanent: take the ramp above the entrance up to the pre-colonial exhibit and scan the QR codes.

Jenny Grice, the new Koppies committee Chairperson, has followed this smelter's story for years. Her take on why it matters:

We are excited by the opening of the new augmented reality smelter experience at Museum Africa. As Joburg celebrates 140 years of its gold heritage, the smelter experience reminds us that Joburg's history is more than gold. Hundreds of years before the 1880s, there were many farmer settlements dotted across what is now Joburg: Melville Koppies, Bruma, Klipriviersberg and more. The inhabitants were the ancestors of people who had migrated from further north in Africa, bringing with them metalworking skills. At Melville Koppies, evidence also shows that going back even further in time, the Koppies' beautiful ridges and grasslands were home to San hunter-gatherers and early man, thousands of years before. The smelter experience will go a long way in enriching our understanding of Joburg's past.

The Room That Showed Up

It was meant to be a small, invite-only morning. It didn't stay that way. By the time the talks started, people were standing at the back to watch. Dr Gillian Drennan, who chairs the Museum Africa committee, was there, alongside Jenny Moodley, head of PR at City Parks, who spoke on how much of the city's heritage sits inside parks and public spaces, and on getting bodies like UJ, the Koppies and the museum to build stronger channels of collaboration.

At the launch itself, Jenny Grice spoke on how far the journey's come since the AR first landed on the hill, from a hard sell to a committee that took convincing, to now becoming a beacon out in the city that points back to the Koppies. The morning closed with a fun interactive quiz. Among the winners: Siwe and Forest of Zimtoti Bakery and Exotically Divine. Guests left with tickets to the Fak'ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival and passes to come see the real furnace on the Koppies, the exact trip Izak's been hoping for.

I Love Melville

"Smelters like this existed all over," says Izak. "But this is the only one that was actively preserved over decades of hard work. It's been passed down from person to person, and it's just passionate individuals. That's Melville." Everywhere else, they were built over. Here, the koppies were proclaimed a national monument in 1963, at a time when the official story had no room for African industry. Somebody here pushed against the thinking of the day and won.

Izak hopes a tourist who meets the smelter in Newtown reads that it lives in Melville, then comes to find the real one and stays for lunch. "This is a very special gem that Melville has in its crown," he says. "Perhaps it hasn't been polished in a while, but we've been polishing it now."

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On the 5th of October, our beloved Mellies makes 13 decades! Only 10 years younger than Jozi itself. So for this month's first Thursdays, the Melville Art Mile is your ride into the birthday weekend.

Yes, yes, yes. A massive celebration was initially planned, but again, this weird spirit of not buying into community initiatives, as we experienced with the Trail Fund Project, and honestly, even the clean-up didn't have many residents; we just don't have enough buy-in. This is NOT on Melville. It's not ayoba; this is not the Melville Spirit that built Melville into Mzansi's Bohemian and Creative capital. I mean, It's Melville's birthday!

So, the idea has changed and shifted slightly. We'll metaphorically cut the cake and sing on Saturday: The My Melville Memories stand will launch, and a few heritage celebratory activities, like tours by the Heritage Foundation and landmarks/plaques, will happen as well. This will mark the launch of the 130th year campaign.

Each month we'll roll out more birthday things, engage the community and build up to a massive birthday celebration next year. Sound like a plan?

Reply with "Melville Spirit" if we've got YOUR buy-in. Please support the few of us who work our hearts out to bring this suburb to the stature we all know it deserves to be at. All we need is your support. Volunteer where you can, but the easiest thing you can do is spread the word and let anyone who loves our hood know that Melville's calling. It's time to answer!

Last week we unveiled our poster artist for the October Melville Art Mile, and today we're happy to unveil the actual poster! The artist spotlight is an idea to highlight the artist responsible for the incredible artwork we use in our first Thursday posters. So when you come to the event and meet the artist, you also have a little bit of insight into their career. So, naturally, the next step we thought would be to do a video interview.

We did an amazing video interview with Robin Zanine to kick it off, and it was magic! She is incredible! People loved it; it drove visitors to the mile, but most importantly, the artist really felt seen.

We've done it again! We're launching a Melville Art Mile YouTube show.

The idea is to chat to guests, participants and artists on the night and, with the poster artist spotlight interview, create a 10-15 minute episode each month. The full-length interview will be a podcast that you can listen to on all platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts or watch the stand-alone interview on our YouTube channel.

Episode one sits down with Mr.Ëksê, the graffiti artist behind October's poster, and we talk about all things graff, his astounding 30-year career and draw out some insights on what it means to be an artist in this day and age, and even more so in Jozi. We think you'll love it! Have a look/listen and make sure you subscribe!

Volunteers came out for a community cleanup at the Rustenburg Road bend near 9th Avenue this past Saturday. The Melville Residents Association organised it with the Melville Security Initiative, CREASS, local businesses and a few neighbours.

The bend was filled with litter and dumping, and it had become dangerous for anyone on foot, on a bike or behind the wheel. Volunteers cleared the rocky roadside and pulled out anything that could hurt a pedestrian, jogger, cyclist or driver. By the end of the day, alas, the sidewalk was visible again.

Cynthia Rose coordinated. Danny and his CREASS team did the heavy lifting and ran the site with the Melville Security Initiative. Danny was still wrapping up when the Koppies AGM started, but we held the fort. Willem and Cornel, leading the Sotheby's team, took on the wet stretch of verge.

And now, the bend of Oom Paul se Kop looks spectacular; well done, everyone!

Aaand we're done! That's it, the Pet Swag competition is officially closed! Honestly, this year's competition was not a shadow of last year's, but we're happy to have had one gorgeous competitor: Coco Chanel of the Tilsey family. Congratulations!

We'll be in touch to hand over the prize and have a mini photo opp. Thank you so much for taking part!

So with that, we now turn back to the cats! The doggy's got their chance; it's time to go back to another good cause for our local pet community. The Cat Of the Week! The idea for this one is to introduce each cat currently boarding at Bounty Hunters to the hood so that cat lovers can go say hi, spend some time and those of us with the means can maybe contribute to the shelter itself.

Something just as simple as donating stuff you aren't using anymore to the shop can really help them fund important work with cats and other animals. You can also donate pet food, cat toys and animal jungle gyms.

The Cat of the week segment kicks off next week!

Saturday's AGM drew "a good crowd", says Jenny, and Sally Archibald's talk was "fascinating". It was a fantastic time with other friends of Parks like ours coming to engage, share ideas, and celebrate our wins. We also had a councillor of the ward there, amongst other important appearances like Jenny Moodley of City Parks, Alex Weiss, founder of The Trail Fund Project, Neo Pashe of Northcliff Melville Times and even some previous committee members and guides I felt lucky to meet for the first time!

Danny spoke on the MSI and CAP's fight against missing fence slats. We, the members of the Melville Koppies Committee, individually recommitted our service to the reserve overseen by a Councillor, who then warmly welcomed geologists, a rock specialist and a Koppies volunteer, Musarrat, to the Committee.

The Trail Fund Project run raised over R15k. That's well over last year's efforts. Well done, Alex and the Forge Team; we were at Fingers Crossed on Sunday morning, and the vibe was electric! Crazy stat of the day: More than 60 people paid and never even ran!

Among those who did take part was Jason Koopman. Running solo on 20 September, he found the Melville Koppies trail both enjoyable and demanding, navigating by phone on the technical terrain. “The race was very nice and challenging,” he said, praising the epic twists and turns and the amazing view from the top. He recommends it to any trail runner looking for a great training venue: “It’s amazing.”

If you paid but didn’t run, the Koppies Committee invites you to Melville Koppies Nature Reserve (Central) during the times we're open: 8 am - 11.30 on Sundays. So come up, have a jog, bring the kids and enjoy the views and the rich history our hills carry.

It's the last Sunday of the month, 27 September. Don't miss the 8km guided hike. We promise it's really not that bad. We've had elderly people, people recovering from illness and injury and even extremely unfit people, and they all can make it to the end! You can also opt to leave at the halfway stop. See you there?

Wits sociologist David Dickinson talks to Mpho Makhubela about his book, South Africa's Constitution and the Law of the Township: how township residents navigate a working legal system of their own, the lex lokasi, and the hunt for illicit opportunity, or menyetla. David was happy to extend an invitation to the community to come experience his massive moment at Exclusive Books Rosebank Mall, Thursday 1 October, doors 18:00 for 18:30.

He was leaning toward an academic launch at the university or partnering with Love Books, but the powers that be were so adamant that this is a book not only for academia, but relevant to the city and our country at large. We are so proud to know and volunteer with David, who's one of the Walk With Dog guides at Melville Koppies West. We wish him the best of luck!

Unfortunately, we'll be running the Melville Art Mile on the night, but if for some crazy reason you decide to give the mile a miss, Exclusive Books Rosebank is definitely the place to be! RSVP by Monday 28 September.

 If the read was worth the 15 minutes you spent on it, why not buy us a coffee? You can tip us on SnapScan.

Next Thursday, 1 October, is the first Thursday of the month. Support your neighbourhood's art heritage: grab a ticket and come on a tour with us. Snap, see and fall in love with your hood again. It's a fun way to celebrate Melville's 130th birthday!

If something in here made you smile, forward it to someone who loves Melville.

'til next week, Melville,

Stay bold, stay bright, stay brilliant.

Ka ọ dị ✌️