On 8 August 1938, eighty years ago, a re-enactment of the Great Trek began at the foot of the Jan van Riebeeck statue in Cape Town, wending its way through many small towns and villages en route.
One of those was Riebeek Kasteel in the Swartland, where a team of riders with wagons was greeted enthusiastically, as they were everywhere they traversed.
A troupe is seen in the Main Street just below the open area which at one stage was a market square*.
A far lesser known version was enacted again in 1988 in an attempt by the then National Party to raise a new wave of Afrikaner nationalism, but if anything it recalled divisions during the original trek and was not considered a success. However, a group of riders with their wagons still appeared in Riebeek Kasteel.
A scene from the 1988 re-enactment (Elizabeth Richardson)
The village, however, was to have a different take on establishing a memorial, in that one of the residents decided to create an ox, in cement, to commemorate the role of...
