© Vogelgat Private Nature Reserve           Design: Webwits © Vogelgat Private Nature Reserve           Design: Webwits © Vogelgat Private Nature Reserve    Portfolio of Dr. Ion Williams Doc was born Ion James Muirhead on the 29th of June 1912 in Kenilworth., Cape Town, schooled at St. Andrews in Grahamstown and spent many holidays in Hermanus from the age of four onwards. Arrived with his young family to live in Mossel River (now Voelklip) in 1947. He completed his formal education with a civil engineering degree at the University of Cape Town. For some years after graduating he worked on a variety of engineering projects in the Cape Town dockyard, power station and foreshore reclamations. His first ventures into professional botany were precipitated by his attempts to get his early heath and protea plant collections named by the professional herbaria. He was particularly unconvinced by tolbos names and decided to study them for himself, thinking that because of their “large flowers” they would be easier to tackle than the perhaps heaths, of which he thought the flowers “too small”. It was only later that he discovered the true size of Leucodenron flowers, 1-3mm long, concealed within the cone scales making up this “large flowers”. By then his curiosity was aroused and he soldiered on, teaching himself flower structure as he went along. With the words of Ann Bean, Ion’s cousin; “Of course you know what happened then. One battered landrover, one cooperative wife, a fine background education in Latin and science, and remarkable mind came together to produce a startlingly impressive study of a difficult group of plants by a man without botanical training.” “you do not know the problems he had to contend with, which included deciphering hand written old German giving details of habitat etc, rediscovering lost plant collections, working in musty old basements in the Paris herbarium amongst others. His thoroughness was legendary.” At home he dissected and drew all of them while they were still fresh, constructing a complete description of each as he went along. He grew many from seed, pressing the seedlings whenever he was successful. His herbarium collection, many of which are housed in the Bolus Herbarium at U.C.T., are amongst the most meticulous of any in that large holding and an object lesson to any budding taxonomist. His studies culminated in an impressive thesis causing no end of trouble to the University of Cape Town. How could such a study, presented back to back with a BSc Engineering degree decades earlier, possibly be granted a botanical Ph.D?  It was unheard of: Unprecedented.  Months passed until an offer from Stellenbosch University eventually concentrated the minds at  U.C.T., and Ion graduated in unique style in 1972. By now he had made such a name for himself in the professional botanical world that few overseas or South African botanists would pass by his door without dropping in to see him. From 1959 he was involved in the activities of the Hermanus Botanical Society and designed the stone buildings and planned and laid out the welcoming low-gradient 40km of hiking trails in the reserve. This involved him in walking every step of the uncleared bush beforehand and marking the way with supermarket bags tied to the bushes. For his dedication he was made Honorary Life President. He motivated and surveyed Rotary Way and the road from Grotto to Piet se Bos. Rotary Way runs along the spine of the Klein River Mountain above Fernkloof.  This road is one of the most scenic in the western Cape. Later Ion surveyed every step and directed construction of the Hermanus Cliff Path, which winds along 12km of coastal fynbos and today boasts to be the “World’s Best Whale watching site”. Ion was instrumental in setting up the Fernkloof Herbarium which is internationally recognised. Today the herbarium houses over 1000 dried plant specimens, filling systems, a field herbarium. Fernkloof is probably the best botanically documented nature reserve in the Cape. Dr Williams’s abiding interest in botany soon became the focal point of his activities. In 1969 he purchased Vogelgat the adjoining sheep farm to Fernkloof. His increasing involvement in clearing that land of wattles, pines and hakea demanded his full attention, so that in his later years he focused ever more exclusively on his Vogelgat. His drive and ability to fire others with his vision of pristine veld led to the total clearance of invasive alien plants from his property with the aid of Pieter Buys, his long-time employee and a host of regular and willing helpers/hackers, long before this was a fashionable thing to do; without any outside funding. Vogelgat became a passion and a model of what a private nature reserve should be. Had he not saved Vogelgat when he did, it would by now have become an impenetrable and useless forest of wattles and hakea. As he had done in Fernkloof, he walked and laid out kilometers of hiking paths. He documented the botanical treasures at Vogelgat with an on site herbarium of more than 900 plant specimens. Ion also erected 5 overnight huts, strategically placed to give privacy and great vistas of the surrounding veld. Wishing to push back the invading alien plants from his boundary, he then took on the clearance of the adjacent Provincial reserve Maanschynkop, restoring the mountain hut at Leopard camp. He was so fired up with the necessity to eradicate the invasive aliens from the Walker Bay area that he set up a further hacking group to tackle the Onrus mountains. Dr. Ion Williams (29.06.1912  -  07.01.2001)  was the founder/owner of Vogelgat Nature reserve. He has been visionary in his approach to conservation issues in the Hermanus area. He received his doctorate in science after extensive research into the Leucodendron  family.   Dr. Williams was instrumental in laying out the paths in Fernkloof Nature reserve and the cliff paths. He also established the Hermanus yacht club and the Old Harbour Museum. Dr. Williams received the 1984 Cape Times Centenary Medal for his outstanding achievements in the preservation of the natural environment.   In 1997 Dr. Williams received the Freedom of Greater Hermanus in recognition of his loyal and distinguished services rendered to the community of Greater Hermanus. Design: Webwits Graciously sponsored by: Dr Gerrit Wyma & Nosy Rosy