The Boggie Connection Between Gweru & Hwange
How one man's voice in parliament planted the seed for one of Africa's greatest wildlife sanctuaries - and why the clock that carries his memory has been silenced ever since.
You've walked past it. Its a symbol of the town, an iconic landmark. But do you actually know who Boggie was and what he did for this country
Stand at the intersection of Main Street and Robert Mugabe Way in Gweru, and you are standing in front of one of Zimbabwe's most consequential historical marker, the Boggies Memorial Clock. The tower was erected in 1937 by Jeannie, the widow of Major William James Boggie, in memory of her late husband the Major who was once the MP for the Midlands area in the Rhodesian parliament, best remembered for having put forward the original Bill of Legislation for the establishment of Hwange Game Reserve.
Here is the detail that history almost buried: Major Boggie did not live to see it done. He tabled the motion, he fought for it, and he died before the Bill was passed into law. It was his vision, not his signature, that created what stands today. Hwange National Park was established in 1928 the park that a Midlands MP had the foresight and courage to demand existed, even when no one else was listening.
The clock itself carries its own story. Imported from London, it was fitted with Westminster chimes until residents at the nearby Midlands Hotel complained that the clock, which loudly rang twelve times at midnight, was disturbing their peace. The expensive London-imported clock had its Westminster chimes silenced for good by the local authority. The voice of Gweru's most important monument, muted by a noise complaint.
And yet what that silenced clock set in motion is anything but quiet today. The Hwange-Sebungwe landscape is home to approximately 45,000 African elephants - the second-largest population on the continent. Beyond its borders, the park's significance has only grown. Hwange National Park is now a core component of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) the second-largest nature and landscape conservation area in the world, spanning the international borders of five countries: Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, and Angola. At 520,000 km, KAZA comprises 36 formally proclaimed national parks and three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Victoria Falls.
That is the scale of what one man's motion in a colonial parliament began. A reserve fought for by an MP from Gweru, now the Zimbabwean heartland of the largest transfrontier conservation area on earth.
The next time you pass Boggie's Clock, stop. Look up at that green tower, imported from London, its chimes permanently silenced. It is not just a city landmark. It is the quiet memorial of a conservationist before conservation had a name, a man who stood in parliament with a vision larger than his lifetime.
Hwange answered him back with 45,000 elephants.
Plan your visit to both. Come see the clock that started it all, then go witness the wilderness it created.
Michael Bullivant's laptop was stolen and he has no complete record of various mailing lists. If you are no longer receiving Academy newsletters and wish to be put back on the mailing list, please send a note to music@gatorzw.co.uk