Joe Blog

This Women’s Day, hop on board our bus and discover the colourful, impressive

• and at times controversial - women of bygone Joburg. From the impressive and principled to the frivolous and flawed, this bus tour will detail both the lives and legacies of some of Johannesburg’s most famous and noteworthy ladies.

So join your guides, Alison Andrew and Karen Curry, as we discover the work of patroness Lady Florence Phillips, the founder of the Johannesburg Art Gallery and visionary behind Villa Arcada. And, looking ‘Northwards’, we’ll delight in the flamboyant tale of society queen José Dale Lace and her zebra-drawn carriage.

Further on, we will hear about the determination of trade-unionist ‘Pickhandle’ Mary Fitzgerald; discover the efforts of Charlotte Maxeke - the first person, let alone first woman, to protest against pass laws; Bertha Solomon, the icon who fought for and secured women’s legal rights to their property, income, and children in South Africa; and we’ll visit the school of Kathleen Holmes-Orr, the principal and custodian of St Mary’s College - Johannesburg’s oldest school (created for girls, no less!).

The tour will also include a visit to the beautiful and sometimes forgotten suburbs of Belgravia and Jeppestown, once elite and desirable areas that housed many of Johannesburg’s early personalities. Here, we’ll marvel over the classical architecture and visit the oldest known building in the city, St Mary’s-the-less.

Please note: this is a bus tour with two stops. Please feel free to bring along water and snacks for the trip. The tour will depart from Holy Family College, where secure parking is available. Please arrive 15 minutes early so the bus can depart on time.