FOLLOW THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE HIGHLANDERS
Discover Magersfontein. Relive the fateful day when the pride of Scotland, the Highland Brigade, marched into the arms of the Boers at this famous Anglo-Boer War battlefield. Steve Lunderstedt, an experienced Boer War expert and tour guide will lead a day’s march at this historic site on Saturday, December 12. The outing begins at 06h30. Participants meet at the Moth Centre in Kimberley for coffee and a quick tour of the museum, if they wish. Each will be given a map as the tour departs for Modder River at 07h00. It will stop to view the naval gun positions and drive through the Boer defences on western extreme of Magersfontein battlefield. After that participants will visit the Highland Brigade cemetery, the Crown and Royal Hotel where the British Army had its headquarters. They will then depart for Voetpadsdrift where they will walk from the bivouac area to HQ Hill, Cooksey’s grave and Horse Artillery Hill. By 11h45 the group will arrive at the trenches where almost an hour has been allowed to study the area before breaking for lunch. In the afternoon there will be a talk at Magersfontein look-out post, a visit to the Scandinavian monument, a drive around the battlefield and a visit to the Boer cemetery. Cost of the outing is R185. Booking is essential
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD AND BISCUITS
Richard Baker, a bread and biscuit maker, who had a little shop “at the Bridge, by the Castle in Cape Town,” was a good business man. He did not forget his hinterland customers. Towards Christmas one year he placed a series of advertisements in some of the far-flung newspapers thanking his customers in isolated areas for their business. He expressed a “hearty thanks for their liberal encouragement,” and he “begged to inform them that he intended to devote as much time and attention to them as he did to Cape Town customers.” Richard promised to keep supplying them with articles of the best quality on the most reasonable terms. He gave his word to support of all who honored him with their orders with top class service. This he promised to local residents, hinterland families and passengers on ships calling at the Cape.
INSURED? WELL NOT REALLY
When Fred Becker’s house, Rocklands, caught fire in February 1834, and burned to the ground, he breathed a sigh of relief because he had been persuaded to take out fire insurance. He told the editor of the Eastern Cape Herald that “flames spread so rapidly the roof fell in before any of our furniture could be saved.” His horror was eased by his confidence in the policy issued by the Alliance Fire Office. However, when he tried to claim he discovered that not one item of furniture was covered against risk. He could not believe his ears. “Sadly, this is proof of tricksters being employed by Fire Insurance Offices,” said Fred.
TOYS ARRIVE IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
In 1834 stores supplying hinterland towns advised that crates of toys had arrived – just in time for Christmas. Included in the consignment were table and card games, a wide variety of miniature, but working tools, regiments of horse and foot soldiers, large and small dolls, baby dolls, ready furnished dolls’ houses, as well as a sufficient additional furniture and furnishings to delight any little girl’s heart. Also in the consignment was Noah’s Arks with removable animals, little carts, wagons, horses and other animals – sufficient to set up make believe farms. There were churches, houses, and other buildings from which to create make-believe villages, carriages, footmen, kings and queens, whistles, rattles, spinning tops, nine-pins, marbles, rocking horses and many other toys of every description.
SAD CHRISTMAS AS FATHER IS MURDERED
The Cramer family, like most of their neighbours, was looking forward to Christmas in 1834. However, on Wednesday, December 24, Robert thought it would be safer to move his cattle closer to his homestead as there was a bit of unrest in the area. He had no one other than his two little daughters, aged about 6 and 8, to help him, but they had done this before, so they set off. The girls shared one horse and their father rode the other. As Robert and his beloved daughters were rounding up and driving their stray cattle homewards, a band of hostile-looking men rode up and began shouting in a language neither Robert nor his daughters understood. Suddenly one of these malevolent men hurled an assegai at Robert. It struck him and he fell from his horse. The men then instantly fell upon him and stabbed him to death, right in front of his terrified daughters. The leader of the band then turned towards the girls and fired a shot. It flew over their heads and in terror they fell from their horse. The raiders rounded up both horses and all the cattle and rode off, leaving the two devastated little girls huddled together on the ground. Back home their distraught mother had no way of summoning a neighbour when her family did not reappear – she had no other horse. She just had to wait until the girls eventually arrived, shivering, suffering from shock, dehydrated, and “burned to a cinder” by the merciless Karoo sun. On hearing the story, the editor of The Grahamstown Journal said: “it has become very clear that this part of the country will become depopulated if we do not stand together. We are now being called upon to defend our hearths, our altars and our families and our neighbours. I am confident none will be found wanting as the hour of need approaches.”
ANOTHER LINK WITH DR KOETTLITZ
Mike Ferrar, manager of Mount Melsetter Guest Farm, enjoyed the Round-up stories on Dr. Reginald Koettlitz, particularly because his family has a link to the good doctor. “My Great Uncle, Hartley Ferrar, a Cambridge-trained geologist, accompanied Koettlitz on Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s first expedition to the Antarctic on board the Discovery. I have some silver, bone-handled cutlery which was taken south on that expedition. There used to be pieces of ‘Discovery Plate’ in our extended family, but I have lost track of them. Your readers might be interested to learn of the geological findings Great Uncle Hartley made in Antarctica. Some of these led directly to the development of the theory of Continental Drift and the break up of Gondwanaland. Hartley Ferrar discovered some fossils in Antarctica which are exactly the same of ones found right here in the Karoo, and on other continents, such as South America. Much of his work is archived in the Natural History Museum in London, and in the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge. Students of geology will be familiar with the Ferrar Karoo Sills, as these are relevant to the Permian Extinction, and the commencement of the Triassic period, roughly 240 – 260 million years ago. They were named in Hartley’s honour.” Anyone interested in learning more should “Google” Ferrar Karoo Sills, he says. Mike also recommends that those who are seriously interested in the subject should obtain a copy of the September 2000 issue of National Geographic. “It has a good article on Karoo fossils. I find it rather amusing that I, a Ferrar, am now living in the Karoo, and finding fossils such as the Lystrasaurus Murrayi, right here in the banks of the Great Brak River which runs through Mount Melsetter. This is a wonderful coincidence and it gives further resonance to my life as a ‘former city-embattled soul’ – to quote Nicholas Yell – revelling in a new beginning in the vastness of the Great Karoo.”
SMOOTH TALKING DOCTOR CAUSES TROUBLE
When Graaff-Reinet was established in the horseshoe bend of the Sundays River on July 19, 1786, that part of the Karoo was far from peaceful. Things were so bad that the first magistrate, Mauritz Otto Woeke, took to drink. His successor Magistrate Maynier was inefficient and caused great dissention throughout the district. A medical man, Dr Jan Pieter Woyer, rode into this mess to serve the community as district surgeon, but all he did was cause further dissention. The town was still suffering from the effects of the Second Frontier War when he and the schoolmaster began inciting all who would listen to Jacobean sentiments. The farmers were easy prey to the tales told by these two smooth-talking men. Many felt greatly encouraged when the doctor told them that a combined fleet of Dutch and French vessels was on its way to help the Graaff-Reinet rebels and to sort our affairs at the Cape in general. Woyer in time managed to make his way to Batavia where he persuaded the Dutch Government that the Graaff-Reinet rebels were in great need of arms and ammunition. They believed him and he managed to return to South Africa with a ship load of arms. In the end, however, the people of Graaff-Reinet saw through Woyer, denounced him and he disappeared.
A LONG ROAD TO BEAUFORT WEST
In the mid 1830s Isaac Dyason spent 14 years in Beaufort West. But, getting there was not easy. He arrived in this country with a party of 1820 settlers on board “a fine, tight little ship, the Zoroaster.” They had boarded her as she lay in the Thames in January 1820. Captain Thompson was preparing to sail south, but the winter weather was severe and before they could get started, they found themselves ice-bound for several weeks. Most had all almost lost their enthusiasm for the trip by the time the thaw set in. The journey south was “pleasant enough,” but when they arrived in Cape Town on April 30, 1820, they were hit by another blow. The Zoroaster was contracted to go no further. Eventually they were all “bundled into other already overcrowded ships” bound for Algoa Bay. Once safely landed at Port Elizabeth, they were “alarmed to see a fort and only a few huts.” Fort Commandant, Captain Evatt, met them and immediately despatched them by ox wagon to “the spot allotted to us.” They arrived early in June 1820, in ice cold weather to find nothing there. “We pitched our tents and lived under canvas for months, while predators and bands of marauders caused havoc. Nevertheless, I remained there for about three years and had a hand in all the branches, fatigues and privations of a settler’s life in the wilderness. I witnessed successive crop failures due to rust, droughts and destructive floods, as well as the plunder of stock and the murder of neighbours before I decided to move on.”
EVIL HORSE ALMOST KILLED HIM
Isaac Dyason then became a post officer. In those days the Government entrusted the mail to men who could ensure its transport from place to place. “Most of these post-holders, as they were called, were farmers who had horses and employed men or had slaves to ride the routes. But I was without anything of the kind, so I had to perform the duty myself. For upwards of a year and although it touched my pride a little, I carried post from place to place. It was not repulsive to my feelings, I was young, physically fit and active. I enjoyed outdoor life and, even though I say it myself, I made a smart post boy.” During this time Isaac experienced only one really bad incident. “I had been on the road both day and night for weeks, in darkness, storm and rain. I had had many narrow escapes, often falling and having my horse fall under me.” But then there came a day when he was given a post bag that was “out of repair”. He noticed it but thought it would hold. So, he slung it over his shoulder and went off to find a horse. He was given a young, fiery, not too well broken in steed. “It sped off into the starlit night and I hung on, persuading myself I had all under control. Familiar places flashed by until we reached Zig-zag. There the horse left the road and galloped at full speed towards a thorn-tree thicket. It flew into the bushes. They tore me from my saddle, and I landed on the ground with great force. I was considerably hurt, bruised and stunned, but I had managed to keep the bridle reign in my hand. I looked up and there docilely looking down at me was my horse. Over my shoulder a trail of letters and packets dotted the moonlit veld. I was already late, however, so I had no alternative but to mount and continue to the nearest Postmaster to report the incident. Fortunately, the mail was recovered, but that horse was evil. Some time afterwards he became the property of Thomas Lawson, Magistrate of Albany. One day the creature threw Thomas, injuring him so badly that he died.”
NEXT STOP BEAUFORT WEST – WHEREVER THAT MAY BE
Some time later Isaac was offered a job in the public service at Beaufort West. No one was too sure where that was. Isaac discovered it was 300 miles away could be reached via Somerset and Graaff-Reinet, but, no one actually went there so he had considerable difficulty in finding transport. Eventually he managed to hire a wagon from a Mr Trollip, who also agreed to accompany him. Initially Isaac was delighted, till, way out on the veld and “far from every place on earth” Mr Trollip confessed he had no idea where they were headed and set off for Colesberg. This resulted in “a fearful altercation” at the end of which Trollip announced he would go no further and was turning back. He could not, he said, contemplate going to such an out of the way place. Isaac calmed down and using all the tact and charm he possessed persuaded Trollip it was actually no further than Colesberg and that it would be a great adventure that he would for years be able to talk about. They at last came to terms, but not before Trollip was able to raise the price of the trip and get Isaac to promise to buy him a team of fresh oxen once they reached Beaufort West. It took all of three weeks to reach the little village beneath the Nuweveld Mountains. There Isaac was met by Magistrate Meintjies, William Kinnear, Clerk of the Peace, Deputy Sheriff Charles Pope, James Christie, the only medical doctor within a 200 mile radius and J G Devenish, a Government teacher who later became Civil Commissioner. Isaac immediately liked these men and served the town for 14 years.
HISTORY PRESERVED IN STONE
Nieuwoudtville lies on the Bokkeveld escarpment between Knersvlakte and the Hantam. The town’s story can be traced back to 1700 and the lovely loan farm, Groenrivier, which was granted to Michiel Heyns. A widow, Keesje Heufke, took the farm over from him in 1731, and. Lieutenant Nicolaas Laubscher later lived on it 1742 to 1783. It was he who built the sand stone homestead. Its ruins are still visible on the farm. By November 1, 1828, Hermais Cornelis Nieuwoudt, was registered at the owner and at that time many other Nieuwoudts, McGregors and Nels farmed nearby. All these families needed a church. Community leaders met on the farm Willemsrivier in 1892 and decided to buy Groenrivier. Negotiations were completed by 1897, the purchase price of £2100 was paid. By June, surveyor E B Watermeyer began measuring up erven. He stayed in a tiny Karoo stone house which, according to an article by Andreas Bester, in Die Burger of August l9, 1995, still stands behind the old Standard Bank. Sadly, however, it has deteriorated in status and is now only used as a store. Nearby, says Andreas, is the beacon from which Watermeyer commenced his measurements. Nieuwoudtville is one of the few towns which still has its original beacon. In time magnificent sandstone structures were built in this little town, but pride of place goes to the Dutch Reformed Church, which dates back to 1906, and which was declared a national monument. Even the pulpit in the Victorian interior is built of sandstone.
HOW DO I LOVE THEE …
According to local lore the Dutch Reformed Church in Cradock is rooted in a love story. Legend has it that this beautiful church, a copy of St Martin’s-in-the-Field, in London, was created by the local dominee for his wife, the love of his life. Apparently, she was English and pined for her homeland. He loved her so much that he persuaded his church council to have Sir Christopher Wren’s design copied for the local church. At last it was finished and indeed it was a beautiful edifice with Corinthean portico, Gothic steeple and a good clock. The towns people were well satisfied but came the day for the grand opening in September 1868, the builder would not hand over the keys. Dignatories and VIPs began to arrive, but still he stood his ground. He had not been paid in full, he said, and only when his full fee was forthcoming, would he hand over the keys, he said. The church council was red-faced with indignation and so was the building committee. A full hour filled with heated words went by and still he would not relent. Then some leading citizens pledged the outstanding sum – there was a bit more humming and haaing and then persuaded that he could trust these leaders of the community, the builder parted with the keys.
NO CALL – PLACED BY THE STATE
The early churches in South Africa were not free to “call” their ministers. These men were appointed by the State. There was also no free election of church councillors – names of men willing to serve had to be submitted to the magistrates of the little villages at the end of each year and these were passed to the Governor for approval and appointment. Yet Beaufort West’s Scottish parson, Colin Fraser, had his own way of thumbing his nose at such autocratic authority. He forwarded all his correspondence to the Government in Dutch, despite the fact that there were clear regulations stating that this had to be done in English. Sir George Napier found it most odd that a Scottish minister would “insist in constantly sending us Dutch documents.” He regularly returned all Fraser’s reports with terse notes attached stating: “to be translated according to the rule.” Most times he simply got them back again – still in Dutch – so in the long run it was much simpler and faster to translate them in Cape Town. Most of the Dutch farmers of the hinterland considered the Scottish ministers who came out to serve them “gifts from God.” They loved these men, respected and revered them. Most of the Scottish ministers in turn became true Afrikaners.
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
Auguste Rodin; When once asked about how he approached sculpture, he replied:
“I choose a block of marble and chop off the bits I don’t need.”
