Unraveling the history of the Springbok Farm Stall

The Springbok Farm Stall with its iconic giant egg was a familiar sight on the Gonubie Main Road for decades. Many Gonubians have fond memories of the farm stall, but few are familiar with its history, which dates back to the 1960s.

It all began in 1967 when Biggy Turner (later Barnard) and her husband Adriaan “Snowy” Barnard purchased a property called St. Annes along the Gonubie Main Road. Snowy was a big rugby supporter, especially for the Springboks and Northern Transvaal, and since they had started a poultry farm on the property, they decided to change the name to Springbok Chicks.

The Springbok Farm Stall started out in 1968 as a table on the side of the Gonubie Main Road where Biggy’s children, Malcolm and Jennifer Turner, sold vegetables they had grown to make pocket money. The table was later replaced with a wooden hut constructed by Sheila Nel, who worked at Horwitz scrap yard in Abbotsford. In 1971 the stall was converted into a small brick building and it grew from there.

The famous giant egg was added in 1970. The egg was more than just a decoration, according to Biggy Barnard. “I came across a large rugby ball at Border Boxes, which had come from the Border Rugby Union (BRU) grounds when the All Blacks played in East London. I offered to buy the rugby ball and then came up with the idea to turn the rugby ball into an egg to advertise the eggs that were sold from the farm stall. I contracted a local artisan named Toby Skolmen, who was a good friend of Snowy, as well as a regular customer at the Springbok Farm Stall. Toby converted the rugby ball into an egg using bricks, cement and plaster.”

The egg attracted many customers and so did delicacies such as the memorable homemade jams, pancakes, and the famous large crumpets and flapjacks which were considered “best in town”. In addition to eggs, the stall also sold day old chicks and point of lay pullets. The farm stall did very well, according to Biggy, because there were no big commercial grocery shops at the time. In December 1976, the store won a Citrus Competition, a feat that was written up in the Daily Dispatch newspaper.

Biggy continued operating the farm stall until 1980, when she sold it. At that time the business was thriving. The store went through several owners with Jenti Jeeva sticking it out longer than the others and becoming  the most successful and popular owner.

When President F.W. de Klerk visited Gonubie in the early 1990s his face was painted on the egg. The resemblance was striking, since the president and the egg were both bald.

According to Dave and Lynn Hulley, who owned the farm stall from 1994 to 1998, “In 1998 Coca-Cola offered to modify the egg and give it a makeover with Coca-Cola branding for us to utilise as advertising – they put on arms, legs, a red cap and a coke bottle in the egg’s hand.” The Fibreglass shop was contracted by Coca-Cola to make the modifications and Timothy Redelinghuys was the artist who did the job.

Dave and Lynn also started restoring and selling cottage furniture from the farm stall, which Dave was sourcing in the Transkei and Ciskei. They arranged the furniture outside the farm stall so that passing motorists could see it, which did very well.

Renee Ladwig owned the farm stall from 1998 until early 2001, when she and her husband sold it to Nico Venter. In 2003 Malcolm Turner and his wife Lila bought it from Nico’s father, Jhart Venter. Malcolm and Lila tried to recapture the feeling of the original farm stall, where Malcolm had sold home-grown produce as a boy. They turned the garden into a tea garden, which they called “The Rainforest” and expanded the building. But according to Malcolm “times had changed and the business faced fierce competition from the growing number of grocery outlets and garage shops in Gonubie. The amount of traffic on the Gonubie Main Road had also increased, making it difficult for cars to turn into the farm stall entrance.” The business closed on the 28th February 2005. Later that year Biggy sold the entire farm and Cypress Construction took over.

Sarel Van Tonder – owner of Cypress Construction, rented out the farm stall to Mark and Keri-Lee Derbyshire in 2006. The building was painted purple, renovated and renamed to Rodillo’s Pub and Grub. It was during this time that the iconic Gonubie egg met a sad fate. Keri-Lee provided the following explanation, “We were renting the farm stall at the time and it was on the market to be sold when Share-a-Pony closed and moved to the other farm. We had done some renovations to the building and extended it. Due to this, the egg was built in and no longer visible. We got written permission from the municipality to move the egg closer to the roadside so that passing cars would be able to see it. The municipality came with a truck and assisted with the move. When they lifted the egg, it crumbled. The inside of the structure was made of wood which was impacted by wood borer and rotted, thus it could not handle the weight of the cement. It was very unfortunate. We were going to rebuild it, but the property was sold before we had the chance.”

Many locals were saddened by the demolition of the egg, feeling that a significant part of Gonubie’s history had been lost. Joy Phillips wrote “Very sad that we lost the Humpty Dumpty egg. It was an icon for all people, especially the children.”

Local collector Billy Nel then stepped in and bought the egg’s fiberglass arms and legs. “When I bought the egg’s arms and legs, the previous owner was adamant that he was going to rebuild the egg. Of course it never happened and eventually I think I asked him one time too many and he said this is the price, just take the bloody things.”

Billy Nel also provides hope that the egg will return again one day. “Today the egg’s legs and arms are fixed on a toilet. I couldn’t think of anything else to put them on, but I’ve subsequently got a big soccer ball made out of fiberglass from the 2010 FIFA world cup. I intend to put them on there and then paint his little face on again and his peak cap. I also thought of going to Border fiberglass to see if they could make me an egg like the original, as the soccer ball is too round and it’s got to look like an egg.”

Between 2007 and 2010 the farm stall was rented by Frik Van Zyl, who painted it yellow and turned it into an antiques shop named “Something Old.” According to Frik “In 2010, Cypress Construction gave me notice claiming that the building is going to be demolished. After I left, the farm stall was standing empty till about February 2017, then the current people started selling furniture outside. I am not sure who they are, and I tried to contact Cypress Construction but it seems that they are no longer in operation.”

The Gonubie community on Facebook remembers the Springbok Farm Stall’s egg as a huge “Welcome to Gonubie”. Children in particular loved the giant egg. Others have fond memories of the tasty goods sold at the farm stall and the memorable stops when leaving Gonubie. Nowadays the farm stall is an abandoned eyesore along the Gonubie Main Road, a sad reminder of times past, and a great loss for the people of Gonubie. With the construction for the expansion of Gonubie’s Main Road, the future of the Farm Stall is unknown.

About the Author

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