Western Cape

[Originally published 30 May 2014] Bathurst Primary School is running a campaign to raise funds for much needed restoration work. The campaign's tagline is 'Restoring the Oldest School in South Africa'. The cause is undoubtedly a worthy one but is the claim of 'oldest school' legitimate? Ms Sigi Howes (Head: Education Museum, Wynberg, Cape Town) provides some answers in this open letter.

I have been researching the history of schools for several years now, and I note with some concern your claim that the Bathurst Primary School is 'the oldest school in South Africa'. While I admit that the school has has a proud history and is certainly ONE of the oldest schools, it cannot lay claim to being the oldest. That honour falls to the LR Schmidt Laerskool in Genadendal (1738). There is also a school in Wellington, Wagenmakersvallei, that may date back to 1796.

Other schools older than Bathurst: 

• Mamre Primêre Skool (1808);
• Outeniqua High & Junior Schools (1812);
• Pacaltsdorp Hoër- en Primêre Skool (1813);
• Swellendam Hoër- en Laerskool (1814)
• Simon's Town School (1815).

That means Bathurst could currently be seen as the 8th oldest, but my research only focuses on the Cape provinces. Also, I should just caution that, as I delve deeper into the history of schools, I occasionally come across a very old school and then the picture changes again.

In the light of the above, I think that you should amend the phrase to something like 'possibly the oldest school in the Eastern Cape', or 'one of our...

We stumbled across this fascinating piece in a 1907 edition of the South African Railway Magazine. It tells the story of the discovery of some remarkable early Cape history. Thank you to the Heritage Office at Transnet for giving us access to their archives.

The 'Post Office Stones' which form the subject of an illustration on this page were discovered on March 7 last, in the course of excavations for the foundation of the south-east tower of Cape Town Suburban Station. The following extract from the "Cape Times" of March 14 will be read with interest:

"While the excavations in Strand Street were in progress, the workmen struck a large mass of rock, some twenty feet below the present level of the ground. Mr. Humberstone, foreman in charge of works, examined the rock and it was soon found that it sloped downwards towards the sea.

Further excavations revealed the most interesting fact that a series of steps had been hewn in the solid rock, evidently to facilitate landing from the boats, and the surrounding formation tends to bear out the theory that at this point in former days there was a little creek leading right up to the steps. There can be no doubt whatever that the steps are not natural - that is to say, they have been cut out by the hand of man; and there can be equally little doubt that they mark the spot where, in days long past, the sailors came ashore. Possibly it was up...

Stephanus Jesaias Ter Blans, eldest son of Heemraad Pieter Ter Blans (Terblanche) of the Reeboksfontein farm near Little Brak River, was the first colonist farmer to settle in the Knysna area. He named his loan farm Melkhoutkraal, which he established in 1770, on the east bank of the Knysna River. The farm stretched from the Indian Ocean to today’s Long Street in the town of Knysna. Stephanus Ter Blans died in 1794 after having had the loan rights for twenty years.

His widow, Hester Marx, remained on the farm and ran it with the help of her children. She subsequently married Johann von Lindebaum in 1798. In 1801 Lindebaum sold the farm to Richard Holiday, who died the following year.

The massacre of colonist farmers, on 15 October 1802, at a place known as De Poort, near the Garden of Eden in Harkerville, was a setback for settlement in the Knysna area. This event occurred during the Third Frontier War when a group of renegades plundered farms all along the Langkloof and entered into the coastal regions, harassing farmers from Plettenberg Bay all the way up to the Kaaiman’s River near George.

A group of Plettenberg Bay colonist farmers; Botha, Heyns and Wolfaart, with their families and retainers were returning to the Cape in fear of their lives when they were ambushed at De Poort. Four of the men were killed and the women taken hostage. The women and children were released later but many of the settled farms lay...

[Originally published 23 March 2015] The Heritage Association of South Africa (HASA) has noted with great interest the public debate on the matter of colonial-era public memorials and place names – in this particular case those associated with Cecil John Rhodes – for some a great British statesman and industrialist, and for others an imperialist whose colonial and mining labour policies and practices doomed entire generations of black communities – all across the ‘pink’ map of colonial Africa. While commentators have referred to the Rhodes scholarship as evidence of something more benign to his legacy, for others that very same scholarship has its roots in obscene profits made from a now widely despised migrant labour system he helped to engineer. To expect reconciliation between such divergent views and opinions would be foolish.  

So let us stress from the outset that HASA believes that such debate is welcome and that it should spur universities across the country to revisit their policies in respect of the role of public culture and heritage. We also reconfirm HASA’s firm belief that heritage, or more specifically the “national estate” – as described in the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA) of 1999 – must serve to reconcile the past, heal divisions and advance the interests of social justice and cultural restitution. Without a broadly shared consensus on how we deal with our troubled past and the monuments and landscapes associated with our deeply painful histories, we will continuously get stuck without seeing a way forward...

The recent articles about Vergelegen on the Heritage Portal brought back happy recent memories of our holiday stay in Somerset West over Christmas 2014. As we were there for two weeks we visited Vergelegen three times to enjoy the splendour of the estate, learn a little history, taste wine, develop a discerning palette, get lost in the maze, take a walk in the enchanted oak forest, sniff the varieties of herbs in the herb garden, marvel at the ancient camphor trees, go on a tour of the cellars and let the  grandkids scramble about on the children's play equipment. The walled gardens delight with the vistas of lavender, hydrangeas, agapanthus and roses. The views of the panoramic setting in the valley below the Hottentots Holland mountain in the distance are spectacular.

[Click here to view 'The Story of Vergelegen']

Marvel at the ancient camphor trees (Kathy Munro)

The walled gardens are a delight (Kathy Munro)

The tour of the wine cellars through the vineyards and to a hillside site with an underground circular cellar was extraordinary.  We were offered a personal lesson in wine making and marvelled at the size of the vast oak...