Others tried and sorely failed to be the first to be able to travel by vehicle from Cape Town to Cairo.
Major Chaplin Court Treatt and his South African born wife, Stella, succeeded in doing so in 1926 for the first time ever, taking a humongous 16 months to do so.
I presented this story at the Valentine's Day Johannesburg Heritage Foundation celebration on the lawns of Northwards and thought Heritage Portal readers would also enjoy this South African story of love, endurance and resilience against the backdrop of the Second World War. It was one of seven presented at this event.
Dr James O’Reilly (1856-1939) stayed in this house with his wife Catherine Elizabeth (1861-1930). Dr O’Reilly was the district surgeon in 1888. The Doctor would leave a homing pigeon by his patients on the farms, which they would release if they required medical attention. During the 2nd Anglo Boer War, they were in charge of the Military Hospital, that was converted Waverley Hotel, that was next door.
