The Maze
Photo: From the Rouillard Family Album : Mummy Virgie with “Duke” & Dixie with “Starlight”
Sometime in 1928 Miss Maisie Bonamour (now Mrs M. Barth) drove Bishop Delalle and two Brothers up on to the ridge of Durban to see a property known as ‘The Maze’. (The Durban vicariate had been trying to get the Brothers from as far back as 1892, in an interview in Uitenhage between Fr Baudry OMI and Br Nectaire Dumas -ed) Their purpose was to acquire the property so that the Little Brothers of Mary (the Marist Brothers) could establish one of their schools in Durban. The property in which they were interested has had an interesting history and, for a long time, has been a well-known landmark in Durban.
It is thought that the house now occupied by the Brothers was built by William Cowey although this is not certain for the original plans of the house are no longer in existence. In a publication “A First Listing of the Important Places and Buildings in Durban”, the following entry appears concerning ‘The Maze’: Date of erection: c 1895 ; Reasons for listing: Excellent veranda house with unusual ‘Colonial style’, timberwork and paired columns. Good encaustic-tiled floors.
But in contrast to this date of 1895 the following entry appears in the ‘Book of Annals’ as kept by the Brothers Community at the school: ‘Dr. R.V. Cowey, a ship’s surgeon on a Transport Ship visited The Maze. He was born in 1873 and lived at The Maze in a new house just built by his father, Mr W .R. Cowey ,for three years 1879-1881. He remembered well the part of the property bordering on South Ridge Rd and particularly a tree on which he used to climb which was still standing near the road.’ On the 11 th April 1888 the property passed into the hands of David Don, a well-known local personage in Durban at the time. The Don Africana Collection at the Durban Municipal Library was bequeathed to the City by this same David Don.
The story of ‘The Maze’ had its beginning on the Ist October 1847 when Her Majesty’s Government in the Colony of Natal presented a portion of ground to one George Christopher Cato. This property was located way out of town on the inland side of the South Ridge of Durban (roughly behind the present site of the University of Natal). Cato used this land as a farm which he called ‘Cato Manor’. This George Cato was the same man who was responsible for the laying out of the original plans for the city of Durban. ‘Cato Manor’ became freehold property in 1869 and the portion of the farm on which our School now stands was ceded to Helen Frances Winsing in 1874 and then to Walter Lloyd in 1876. When Walter Lloyd died the property was sold to a Durban draper, William Richard Cowey, for the princely sum of £1087 in 1881.
Whilst the House remained the property of David Don, Sir C.G. Smith, an early sugar baron in Natal and a prominent political figure at the turn of the century, stayed at The Maze from 1909-1912. Sir C.G. Smith then built the welIknown Manor House a little further along South Ridge Rd which is the present home of the Boulle family. Rumour has it that during the time of Sir C.G. Smith’s residence at The Maze (probably some time in 1909) an informal gathering of the principal participants of the National Convention met in the room that now houses the present Chapel at The Maze. Here the weighty substance of the Constitution of the Union Government was discussed. This meeting included such prominent figures as Louis Botha (the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa), General Christiaan Smuts and William X. Merriman. Unfortunately, while the rumour is in all probability true, no documentation can be found to lend it more substance. But it does add something to the romance of the history of our School.
David Don’s wife, later to become Marie Sargant, inherited the property on the demise of her husband and, on the 7th May 1919, sold it to Fanny Katherine Rouillard (born Moth) for the Sum of £8 000. Her husband, Richard Anthony Rouillard was a mining engineer who worked both in Durban and Vryheid.
Then in 1928 came the inspection of the property by Bishop Delalle referred to at the beginning, and on the 26th April 1929 the property was purchased by the Marist Brothers. They paid £16 850 for it and at the time of the transaction the biggest auction sale of Antiques took place at The Maze.
The schools patron Saint is Henry the Pious, but as was usual with the French Brothers in S.A. they named the school after the bishop who invited them in to his diocese, this time Bishop Henri Delalle.