Malagas is named after one of the last Khoekhoe ‘kapteine’ who was based near the (Breede) river. On 26 January 1791 the farm ‘genaamt Malegaas Craal geleegen aan de Breede Rivier aan den landouwer ene Adriaan Odendal toegeken is’. He remained until 1837.
Joseph Barry was born in England on 1 April 1796, one of 16 children. His parents died when he was young, and he joined two of his brothers in Spain and Portugal, studying the wine trade. In the path of Napoleon after his escape from Elba, Barry was arrested as a spy, but proved his innocence with a certificate from Lyons showing he was a commercial man.
Joseph Barry
After a short visit to the Cape in 1817 as an export agent for a London wine house Barry & Wilkinson, he returned two years later, just 23 years old, to settle. He became a partner in the company Norse, Christiaan & Co, but a year later it was bankrupt.
That year he also met the granddaughter of Dirk Grysbert van Reenan, but had to wait five years until she was ready for marriage. He considered her ‘the secret of my success’.
The years 1819-1822 were ones of drought and starvation (hongersnood) in the Overberg. A tender was sought for the transport of grain and rice to the...
