Limpopo

The Anglo-Boer War (also the South African War, 1899–1902) was one of the most devastating conflicts in South African history, with dire consequences for both combatants and civilians. The British scorched earth policy, implemented to weaken Boer resistance, led to the destruction of thousands of farms, leaving women and children destitute and dependent on British-run concentration camps. These camps were notorious for their overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, leading to malnutrition, disease outbreaks, and an alarming mortality rate. Many of the victims were children whose parents succumbed to illness, starvation, or violence during the war.

By the end of the war, many children had been orphaned. The British colonial administration, faced with the challenge of housing and educating these displaced youth, established orphanages throughout the Cape, Orange River and Transvaal colonies. In the former Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, three orphanages were established in Irene (today part of Centurion), (then) Pietersburg (today Polokwane), and Potchefstroom for Afrikaans children. These institutions were meant to provide shelter, education and vocational training for children who had no surviving family or whose relatives were unable to care for them in the aftermath of the war. While ostensibly humanitarian in intent, these orphanages also played a significant role in the broader colonial strategy of anglicisation, which sought to diminish the Boer cultural identity and assimilate the children into British imperial society. This article explores the histories of the Irene and Pietersburg orphanages, shedding light on their conditions, education policies, and long-term impact.

The Establishment of the Orphanages

The Irene...

Recently, returning from a tour to Mapungubwe through the Archaeological Society, one of our travelling companions requested a brief stopover at the Jewish precinct in the old Polokwane Cemetery, to visit the graves of his late maternal grandparents.

This suited me, as I wished to photograph the memorials to the casualties of the British Empire, who had died in the Northern Transvaal during the South African War 1899 - 1902.

The cemetery in Dahl Street was surprisingly well maintained and it was comforting to note the presence of a nearby security guard.

The Jewish precinct and Military Garden of Remembrance are near one another and while my friend visited his grandparents’ graves, I browsed around the war graves.

The main South African War Memorial, to the left in the above photograph, appears to have been erected by the SA War Graves Board and contains the legend, ‘In Proud Remembrance. Soldiers originally buried at Chuniespoort, Fort Edward, Haenertsburg, Naboomspruit, Nylstroom and district, and Warmbaths now lie buried here at Pietersburg.’

The names of 133 Imperial soldiers from 32 military units are engraved on this memorial. Unusual for memorials to the South African War, it also refers to three unknown soldiers from the First World War and names three members of Geyser’s Commando killed during the 1914 Afrikaner Rebellion.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, the War Graves Board relocated the remains of numerous Imperial soldiers from some of the more outlying and isolated battlefields and cemeteries to the nearest towns to ensure...

While not precisely an archaeological matter, I thought that a short note on a metal item found in Haenertsburg (Limpopo) a few years back might both interest readers and encourage feedback. A dirt track was graded to provide access to a plot being developed just outside Haenertsburg, one of the original gold mining centres of the ZAR. My sister lives next door and as I was visiting at the time, I went across to see what had been exposed.

I have known for some time that historical debris is present in the area which is downslope of the original hospital, said to date to the early years of the twentieth century. This debris consists in the main of undecorated sherds of local clay vessels, but occasionally items of a European origin are exposed during farming operations and in mole-rat mounds. This “exotic” element includes sherds of bone china, glass fragments and the occasional bakelite item. We have even come across a small but broken Bakelite toy car of 1940s vintage that we gave to the custodian of the local village museum.

As expected the grader had churned up many clay sherds, but there was one item that caught my eye - a flat and weathered metal disc. Careful cleaning revealed hand stamped text on the two sides. One side reads NATIVE DOG 029004, while the other more weathered reads TRANSVAAL 1903 (see main image). Its presence seems to confirm my earlier assumption that the debris is not simply an old village garbage dump...

Historians who specialise in researching early history have learnt to use a wide range of materials from the past as source materials. What are these materials? Where can we find them? Who made them? When? Why? What are the problems with using them? The essays in 'Archives of Times Past: Conversations about South Africa’s Deep History' explore particular sources of evidence on southern Africa’s time before the colonial era. Edited by Cynthia Kros, John Wright, Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Helen Ludlow, these essays are by well-known historians, archaeologists and researchers engaging these questions from a range of perspectives and in illuminating ways. Written from personal experience, they capture how these specialists encountered their archives of knowledge beyond the textbook.

The article below is based on Mandy Esterhuysen’s chapter ‘Digging Historic Cave: An Archaeological and Historical Quest’ in Archives of Times Past: Conversations about South Africa’s Deep History, edited by Cynthia Kros, John Wright, Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Helen Ludlow (Wits University Press, 2022): 199-210. Published by Wits University Press, January 2022. Click here for full details.

It was a story that roused archaeology student Amanda Esterhuysen’s interest. In 1854, in the course of increasing hostilities between Boer settlers from the Cape trying to occupy what would become the Transvaal and its African inhabitants, members of the Kekana section of the Ndebele people were besieged by forces led by Marthinus Pretorius. The commandos blocked all the entrances to a cave in which the Kekana had taken refuge and prevented anybody from escaping. Pretorius later announced...

In the article below, journalist Lucille Davie provides some wonderful history of Mapungubwe, one of South Africa's iconic World Heritage Sites. The piece was originally published on the website southafrica.info on 21 April 2004. Click here to view more of Davie's work.

South Africa’s first kingdom, Mapungubwe in Limpopo province, dating back 800 years and situated in a game reserve, is to open to the public in June.

To be known as the Mapungubwe National Park, it borders on the Limpopo river and offers spectacular views of the river and South Africa’s neighbours, Botswana and Zimbabwe, at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers. The site is now a declared World Heritage Site, and from June, guided tours will be available.

This was a long-awaited trip for me, to explore the Mapungubwe mountain and understand more about the lost kingdom of people who date back to the 1200s. It was only discovered in 1933 but remained hidden from public attention until only recently.
 
It’s the first society in South Africa in which class distinctions appeared, with the king separating himself from his subjects, physically by living above them on the mountain top, remaining distant and aloof from them, with his subjects carrying food and water to him and his royal entourage daily.

I knew the basics – that Mapungubwe (meaning “place of wolves”) dated back to pre-colonial times; that they were the first people, after the Bushmen, to settle in South Africa; that they lived on a hill top...

John Thomas Baines (1820-1875) was an intrepid explorer, cartographer, collector of plant specimens and an author. But he is perhaps best remembered for his paintings and sketches.

Portrait of Thomas Baines

Some of his works depict scenes encountered during his travels through Australia and regions of Southern Africa. A number of the drawings originated from his visit to the newly discovered gold fields at Marabastad and Smitsdorp. These two mining settlements were in the vicinity of the farm, Eersteling, owned by Edward Button, and situated to the south of (then) Pietersburg.

Gold coin issued in 1975 to commemorate the Rhodesian Baines Centenary. The design depicts the unique solution for crushing gold bearing ore with the rocking boulder that appears in the Baines painting. (Michael Laidlaw)

Baines stayed at Eersteling from 8 to 12 December 1871. This enabled him to observe the local culture and customs, which he later reported in his travel journals. He took particular interest in the gold mining activities in the surrounding hills. Apart from making extensive notes of his impressions, he also sketched prominent features of...