Rhoda Barry
Rhoda Barry was a South African librarian, composer, and poet, best known for her contribution to Afrikaans children's songs. She composed the well-known song "Eendjies, eendjies", which is often considered a traditional song of unknown origin. Her work had a lasting influence on early childhood music education in South Africa.
Early life and career
Rhoda Barry was born on 7 February 1916 in Wakkerstroom, then part of the Transvaal. Her father, Cyril Kershaw Barry, was an English-speaking lawyer, and her mother, Eugenie Goddard Knobel, was a survivor of the concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War. Rhoda matriculated from Ellerslie High School for Girls in Sea Point, Cape Town. Music was one of her school subjects.Music and compositions
Rhoda's most well-known contribution to the Afrikaans musical heritage is the children's song "Eendjies, eendjies", which was initially published in her collection "Sangstukke vir Kindertjies" and later included in the FAK-Songbooks of 1961 and 1979. Another composition of hers, "Wiegelied", was also included in the 1961 FAK-Songbook. Her music was considered instrumental in the development of school music programs and childhood education in South Africa. Although Rhoda herself did not teach music, her inclusion in the FAK-Songbooks gave her work a certain institutional recognition.Librarianship and literary contributions
Rhoda Barry earned her master's degree in library science from the University of Illinois in the USA, where she wrote a thesis titled A Century of Books: 1814-1914; A Preliminary Survey of Literature Suitable for Children in South Africa. After working for a year at the New York Children's Library, she returned to South Africa. She played a key role in making children's literature available in South Africa by designing practical layouts for children's sections and selecting appropriate children's literature. Her expertise in children's library sections was documented in 1956 and applied in every library in the Cape Provincial Library Service. She was also responsible for establishing a children's library section on Robben Island, which was inaugurated on 10 November 1956.In 1958, she published a revised edition of G.R. von Wielligh's Afrikaans Dierestories. This publication was included in the reading list for Afrikaans literature students at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1962.