Mpumalanga

My parents were very intrepid when they were first married and often went to the Lowveld in their battered old car. They took hundreds of photographs. At some point, my Londoner father decided he wanted to buy a farm in the Lowveld, and after poring over the Farmer’s Weekly magazine for months, managed to find a small farm in the Elands River Valley in the Transvaal Lowveld, now the province of Mpumalanga. He was out of his depth immediately, an Engelsman amongst a very Afrikaner farming community. He tried unsuccessfully to make money from growing vegetables to supply a local canning factory, travelling almost every weekend from Johannesburg. He had to employ a farm manager to handle the actual farming activities and Mr Mostert was surly and unpleasant, but vegetables were actually grown, harvested and sent to the canning factory.

The farm manager, Mr Mostert, inspecting my father crop of peas, circa 1964.

My father eventually sold the farm to Mondi in the late 1960s, and the experiment in an agrarian life was not mentioned again. I recently decided to go through his photographs, about a thousand colour slides, looking for images of the...

Following on from a recent Heritage Portal article by Carol Hardijzer about the fascination and value of ‘botched’ amateur photographs (click here to read), a friend of mine lent me some of her late father-in-law’s collection of colour slides taken on visits to the Kruger National Park in the 1960s. And when we say, ‘collection’ we are talking about a cardboard box filled with over eighty blue plastic Agfacolor slide boxes covering many trips to the Kruger National Park and other places. I haven’t counted the actual slides but at about 35 slides per box, this must be at least 2000 small format colour slides in their plastic mounts. They have not been looked at for 50 years. They are numbered, each slide written on with a pencil, but there is no longer a key. Some places are recognisable, while others are just a type of ubiquitous Kruger Park holiday image. And not that these photographs are necessarily ‘botched’ but are rather photographs taken by an avid, non-professional photographer, using an ‘ordinary’ camera, so no wide angle or zoom lenses, really just ‘happy snaps’.

My friend has been sorting through things after her husband passed away and this cardboard box of slides is all that remains of her father-in-law, Denis James Strever’s memories of his Kruger Park holiday trips, family weddings and places lived in. By chance, this box of photos languished for 25 years on a very high shelf in the house, while other boxes of old holiday and family...

I recently came across an article about Barberton written by Esmé Lownds (click here to read). At that time I knew very little about James Stopforth apart from the fact that he had known my grandfather when he lived in Durban and I felt that Ms Lownds would perhaps like to know a bit more about Stopforth’s earlier days.

I have since learned of course that Stopforth became famous and that there is a museum in Barberton and that his earlier life is very well documented. There were however still a few small facts that I could perhaps have conveyed to Ms Lownds about Stopforth and also some facts about his partner Bill Bowman.

Stopforth House Barberton (Google Maps)

I have since learned, of course, that Ms Lownds is deceased.  However, here are still some facts about the two men which might or might not be of interest to the heritage community.

My interest in this subject originally arose from an extract from an article that I had read many years ago written by W.C. Scully in his Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer which refers to Stopforth & Bowman. It read as follows :-

We arrived at the Lower Camp one morning at about nine o'clock, more than half-starved. I shall never forget my wolfish sensations as we flung down our swags at...

Worldwide, where precious mineral resources were discovered, buoyant photographers formed part of the desperate rush that ensued. This trend of fortune seekers, feverish migrating to these newly announced locations was also observed during the South African gold rushes at Pilgrim’s Rest (1873), Barberton (1883) and Johannesburg (1886).

The earlier Kimberley diamond rush (1871) was the first of the frenzies around anticipated fortunes to be made from photography in these boom towns. In each of these instances, some photographers would have had greater success compared to others.

Whilst Barberton may also have received visiting photographers such as Port Elizabeth based Robert Harris, Pretoria based Henri Gros and Kimberley / Durban based John Middlebrook, this article only focuses on photographers that would have settled in Barberton – at least for a while.

The height of the goldrush boom in Barberton was during 1886.

Short history on Barberton

During early 1884, Fred and Henry Barber set off on a hunting trip in De Kaap Valley. Instead of finding elephant, they found gold.

Also described as the valley of Shadow of Death, the Barberton region was little known and a much-feared area at the time. Travellers had to deal with fever, tsetse flies, mosquitos, poisonous snakes and wild animals.

Barberton was proclaimed on 24 July 1884. A lust for gold followed and within a matter of months Barberton became the most populous and probably the rowdiest town in the Transvaal as many hopeful gold diggers descended on the town. Meiring (1976) suggested that the...

I would like to discuss a topic very close to my heart. One which my dad has been interested in for some time and researched extensively. That is the stone circles found in Mpumalanga. Most of the mountains and hills of Mpumalanga have stone circles on them and extensive road networks joining them to one another. This has long been thought of as just homes of the local peoples and their cattle kraals. They were therefore dismissed as being of any real value or importance archaeologically. However, it has since been proven by means of extensive investigation and discovery of artefacts, rock art and satellite and aerial imagery, that these people, the Bokoni or Koni people were much more advanced.

Forgotten World, the epic study by Delius, Maggs and Schoeman

They were farmers, forgers of weapons and tools, miners and traders. The smelting of iron and copper and forging of weapons and tools from iron ore and mixing this with charcoal and fluxes to get steel takes a very specialized skillset, even some form of chemistry to get the mixture right for the steel to be strong enough to be of use. This later developed into a specialty performed by only specific people and the skill was then passed down within those families. The chief of the village prized the metal-workers as the skill allowed...

Middelburg is one of those towns one usually bypasses while travelling to the Loskop Dam, the Kruger Park or the Mpumalanga Escarpment, not realizing it offers interesting sightseeing opportunities.

There is a historic Dutch Reformed Church established by the controversial Reverend Frans Lion Cachet in 1866, when the community was still known as Nazareth. Later the town’s name was changed to Middelburg, as it was midway between the two principal Transvaal towns of Pretoria (Tshwane) and Lydenburg (Mashishing).

It contains an attractive railway station erected when the NZASM Delagoa Bay line was laid. By the time this railway line reached Middelburg, the town had already become an agricultural centre of some importance and the hub of the regional transport roads. Its railway station was expected to become important because of the nearby coal fields. As a result more care than normal, went into the design and construction of this station building.

Then, there is the very interesting and historical Municipal Cemetery, which one enters from Bhimy Damane Street.

For anyone interested in the history of the Voortrekker migration, there is the grave of Carolus Johannes Trichardt, eldest son of Louis Trichardt who was the leader of the ill-fated Trichardt Trek of 1835 – 1838, who explored large stretches of East Africa for possible settlement areas for the migrants.

For a student of the old Transvaal Republic, the cemetery contains a memorial to 26 British Soldiers who died in the campaigns of 1879 to 1880, following its 1877 Annexation by Great...

On 13 August 2018, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources revisited the Winkelhaak Cemetery at Evander Gold Mine, Mpumalanga. The Committee noted progress in improving the infrastructure at the grave site by the Winkelhaak Cemetery Project. Since their last visit in 2015, a wall has been built around the whole site and a granite monument has been erected. 

Memorial stone at the gate to the cemetery (Martin Nicol)

The Committee asked if it is possible to determine which mining company was responsible for these burials and who were the directors who ran a company with this policy? Swift research concludes that Winkelhaak Mines Limited was responsible for the burials. This was a company under the mining house Union Corporation Limited which merged into Gencor in 1980. None of the companies exist under these names any longer. Archival research would be needed to determine the identity of all the company directors responsible. Because of the passage of time, it is likely that most directors will be dead.

Union Corporation Head Office Building (The Heritage Portal)

 ...

The Heritage Association of South Africa (HASA) is pleased to announce that the historical town of Barberton, Mpumalanga, will host this year’s heritage symposium taking place from 18 to 20 October. With its rich natural and cultural heritage, combined with breathtaking scenery, Barberton has much to offer.

The choice of venue for the symposium could not be more appropriate. The Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains have just been declared a World Heritage Site – the first in Mpumalanga.

Old photo of a section of the Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains

“This declaration is a momentous occasion for Barberton that will bring global recognition for the unique natural features of these mountains and will protect them for future generations” said HASA chairperson Jacques Stoltz, who extended congratulations to all those who worked hard to achieve this goal.

The Makhonjwas, dating back 3,6 billion years, comprise the oldest, best-preserved sequence of volcanic and sedimentary rocks on Earth. Known geologically as the Barberton Greenstone Belt, the physical and chemical characteristics of these highly accessible, ancient exposures provide an unparalleled source of scientific information about the early Earth. The outstanding value of these rocks lies not only in their excellent preservation but also in the large number of sites and features that, when combined, provide a unique, and as yet only partially explored, scientific resource. As required by the World Heritage Convention, they are...

The wonderful story below appeared in the Nelspruit Post on 21 February 2018. Thank you to the team from Mpumalanga Heritage and The Lowvelder for giving us permission to publish.

Last week a lot was said and much was speculated about the large sycamore fig in front of the old Land Bank building in Bester Street in the old town centre. The tree stands well preserved and cared for in an enclosure of its own, and not without reason. This was to protect what is without a doubt the tree with the most historic significance in old Nelspruit - and to my mind in the whole of Mbombela. This was after some readers contacted us to remind us of a discovery once made under the shady leaves of that tree, which sent us to the archives of Lowveld Media, publishers of Nelspruit Post.

Not only was this indigenous tree rooted here long before the town of Nelspruit ever existed - before it was surveyed and laid out parallel with the old Eastern railway line, or Oosterspoor, between Pretoria and Lourenco Marques in the 1890s. For many years its generous shade was also home to the first smithy ever to open a business in the Lowveld.

When the Land Bank was built in the early 1950s, this modern and cleverly designed two-storey building, with window screens constructed at an angle measured to screen off the harsh Lowveld afternoon sun, was set a few metres deeper from the sidewalk than its neighbouring structures...

Experts call the disappearance of gold artefacts ‘colossal’, ‘a travesty’ and ‘serious breach of security on the part of SANParks’. The Heritage Monitoring Project reports on the theft of items from the Thulamela collection which recently came to light – months after the incident took place.   

Questions are being asked within the heritage, museum and archaeological fraternity, why the theft of the Thulamela gold collection from the Kruger National Park early in December last year remains shrouded in secrecy. Museum insiders we spoke to say they are beginning to suspect that the theft has been swept under the carpet by authorities. They also allege that the reticence of the South African National Parks (SANParks) might be hampering the recovery of the items as it is standard practice to report heritage crimes to Interpol and the industry as soon as possible, as this has proven to aid in the recovery of objects quicker, while alerting other museums who may become future targets.

It also appears that SAPS and the Hawks are still no closer to making arrests despite strong suspicions that the theft was an inside job or at least aided by someone internally – as the artefacts were found missing from a locked display case of tempered glass that only employees of SANParks had keys to.

In mid-December last year, staff at the Stevenson-Hamilton Knowledge Resource Centre in Skukuza discovered a locked but partially empty glass display case. The case had contained gold coins and jewellery items from...