ETH/NAMM/0009

The site forms part of Pinetown’s history and is linked to Archibald Keir Murray, the man considered and known as the founding father of Pinetown. Murray moved to the South African region in the mid-1800s: “With his wife and five small children, AK Murray sailed from Glasgow on the Ina in November, 1849, arriving in Durban in March, 1850.” He became prominent in Pinetown due to his construction of buildings: “This site in Park Lane, known as Fort Funk, was where he built Pinetown’s first hotel, The Wayside Inn.” The monument of Fort Funk stems from this: “A.K. Murray built the Wayside Hotel in 1850 and then convinced the community to build a fort around it – now known as Fort Funk – in case of a native uprising.” The site in that sense is controversial as the intent behind it can speak to the question of land dispossession and land tenure. The gun barrel is therefore a commemoration of Fort Funk.
 Reference
Levin, M., ‘Murray’s Hotel, Old Main Road, Pinetown,’ IOL, 2021. 
‘Fort Funk and the Agnes Wood Way in Pinetown,’ Available from: https://showme.co.za/durban/tourism/fort-funk-and-the-agnes-wood-way-in… accessed 22 April 2021.