Story of a Free State Farm School

“History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and bring us tidings of antiquity” Cicero.

Evidence of history is all around us; the farms' schools we attend and the stories told by the children’s family.

We attended farm schools as children. Hennie attended the Kruispad school close to Reitz in the Free State and I attended Kameel school in the North West. When we learned about an old Farm School in our area it was time to pay a visit.

We arrived at the address and realized that we have taken many pictures over the last couple of years of this the building, not knowing that we will one day learn more about it.

Situated on a farm on the banks of the Meul River it sure brings back a lot of memories. The need to start a school was realized in the late 1800s and early years of the 1900s. 

Originally the school was in an old building close to the farmhouse. The farm owner showed us around and the first school was in a packed stone building

No mortar between die stones. The walls were not built up and on the one side was a shed with fodder for the animals that brought the children to school.

For many years the Farm School and the teachers would educate the kids of the surrounding farms. The school and the children and the farms were integrated and they would walk or ride with a horse cart to school.

The teacher had living quarters attached to the school . The stove chimney is still visible and look at the wallpaper. Remember not everyone had to privilege of a any sort of vehicle – not even a teacher way back then. Normally teachers would stay in the house of the family on which farm the school is situated.

The teacher’s quarters attached to the school and a door that leads into the classrooms.

The children sitting in this school has long gone passed on but their descendants still live in the area and the education that their ancestors received in this little school still remains after they have forgotten what was learned in the school. The knowledge was passed on from generation to generation.

The entrance to the school. Thinking of all the little feet that step up the steps to attend school.

Till next time 

Sandra and Hennie 

The Dam and Her Majesty's Apology

A page from the diary of The Dam 

The story of the character full house begins at the turn of the 19th century. Paul Michiel Bester was part of the Voortrekkers and he established the town Harrismith in the Eastern Free State in South Africa. The town was proclaimed and Paul became the first magistrate of the town. He then traded and became the owner of the farm called The Dam.

During the Anglo Boer War, Lord Roberts began a policy of farm-burning in the Orange Free State in June 1900. When Boeres were sighted within 20 miles from a Boer homestead, the occupants were given 10 minutes to evacuate their homes with a few belongings before the building were set alight by British forces. The animals destroyed and the homeowners sent to the nearest concentration camp.

Most of the burnings in the Free State were carried out by Colonel Mike Rimington's notorious Colonial Force, The Rimington Guides (Tigers).

Mary Bester (nee |Mandy) and her sister, who were English speaking, sere alone on the farm The Dam, as Mary's husband Paul Michiel, had been captured in September 1900 and were in Tin Town concentration camp in Ladysmith. When Rimington Tigers arrived Mary was asked, "Madam, have you seen any Boers around?" (which they pronounced BOARS, as in males pig). "Yes" she replied, "Down at the pig stay!"

They were give a little time to gather together a few belongs before the house was torched and Mary hid her silver teaspoons in a tin covered with rusks, as the Tigers were known to loot anything of value. As here sister was heavily pregnant Mary asked the soldiers to load a chair onto the wagon which was to take them into Harrismith, which they did. When Mike Rimington saw it, he hurled the chair off the wagon. The two sisters were allowed to travel on to friends in Natal where they spent the rest of the war. 

When the family returned to the farm after the war, the chair was still in the garden and was the only thing left of their home. 

After the war British government grudgingly voted 3 million pounds towards the restoration of the country. Most of this amount went towards toe restoration of the railways and mines. The Boers received very little of this money and there were usually string attached to their claims. 

The tongue in cheek name, Her Majesty's Apology was chosen although queen Victory had died before the war ended and scorched earth policy carried out by Kitchener and Roberts occurred during her reign. 

The Dam in days gone by. The Dam was one of the first Hotels in our area. 
Look at the beautiful broekie lace that surround the "stoep" 

The lady of the house and her girls are dressed up for the photo shoot. I wonder if they went into town. 
Mary Bester in the Dam Hotel taxi. The dominee objected to the name as he said it sounded like a swear word: "the damn hotel". 
The stable boy was pulled from the stables every so often, given a pair of white gloves and given the temporary job of watering at the tables.
Look at the hats of the little girls. Sure that they are ready to hit town in the Hotel vehicle.

In the photo is Paul Michiel Bester the first Magistrate of Harrismith 
with his wife and the youngest son. 
At the turn of the century, Paul Bester, was the original owner of the farm 
The Dam 

When you look out through the windows you can still hear the inhabitants carrying on with live on the farm Life was good at The Dam and the old photo's tell a wonderful story 

Dark days was to follow when the Second Boer War break out in 1899.
"Boer" was the common term for Afrikaans-speaking settlers in Southern Africa.
At the time Paul was interned in Ladysmith during the War.
he infamous Remington's Guides attacked his Free State Farm, turning out his family, and burning down the house.

The rocking chair standing in the corner was the only piece that survived the fire 

After the war, as an apology, the British Crown rebuilt the Homestead. 

The homestead was rebuilt as an apology from Queen Victoria 

It is this older wing of the house which has now been renovated for guests, hence the name "Her Majesty's Apology"

We visited Malcolm and Angie Bester in September 2015 on the farm. 

They are both artist and has put in a huge effort to promote the artist of the area. 

Malcolm and Angie on the 'stoep' of Her Majesty's Apology 

What can we say all beautiful 

Then there is the beautiful inside of the house.
The magnificent dining table and buffet was part of Angie's family treasures 

Lets take a stroll around the yard and what is happening out side 

The Dam now known as Her Majesty's Apology and some details 

The old vine that survived the test of time 

To soon it was time to say good bye.
Hennie and Malcolm having a last chat
Little would we know that Malcolm would pass after our visit
Rest in peace dear friend  

Till next time 

Sandra 

Thanks to Harrismith Chronicle for supplying some of the information 

Journey to Stardom

We purchase De Oude Huize Yard and our family moved to Harrismith on 15 December 2000. Our sons did a huge commitment to leave their schools, sport and friends behind and join this new venture into the Free State. Remembering the night that we travelled to Harrismith and the uncontrolled veld-fires were lighting the skies Pedri commented —so beautiful but so destructive. Our new lives away from the hustle and bustle of Pretoria and “retirement” in the town will have to make a difference.

 Everything’s done on impulse.

We bought the old house to save it from the bulldozer and in the words of Adam Small:

proud ou gabou—pathetic pêllie

still ou—djy fancy djy staan nog...

djy word gedemolish sê ek vir djou!...

Hoor djy die pêrepote vannie bulldozers?

Ever since we have spent all our time in renovating and collecting history about our house and the town. Even though everything that we, Pedri and Gerald-Cecil have done did not come easily we still see this as a blessing and we would like to believe that we have made a difference to De Oude Huize Yard and our neighbourhood.

Our neighbours are the best. On our day of arrival, they welcomed us with tea, coffee, rusk and a lot of help. Strange people opened their hearts and hands to help us to move into a very dialectic house. They treat us with love and open their heart to all off us.

On opening the front door of our new dwelling we immediately decided to give it a name — De Oude Huize. The state of neglect was visible and we decided to keep to the original era of the house and try to safe a little history in Stuart Street. We had little experience of such a big renovating process and as the kids at school asked Gerald-Cecil— do your parents know what they are doing—he could honestly answer I don’t know, I think they don’t know themselves.

 We have read articles on renovating but nothing helps until you start with the process. We have asked stupid questions and work our fingers to the bone.

 The renovation process of the original house was solely done by Hennie, Pedri and Gerald-Cecil. They have sanded floors, scraped down old paint remove rotten notion, wood and carpets. They have cleaned the yard from invasive kakibos. They have levelled the garden and made new beds. They have opened up the Attic, painted every room and replaced old floorboards.

To put the cherry on the cake the new sandstone wing was added on the footprint of the old stables.

Till next time

Hennie & Sandra

Hamilton Bridge in Harrismith

During the Anglo Boer War British troops were deployed near Basuto Hill – the area known as Wilgepark.

To enable the soldiers encamped in that area to reach the town, a suspension bridge was built by the by the Royal Engineers for easy crossing of the Wilge river. 

The first suspension bridge over the Wilge River was erected in 1900 by the Royal Engineers. Designed for pedestrian traffic. The British soldiers would now have easy access into the town from the area near the Basuto Hill.

The structure was washed away in March 1904.  By then the regiments were gradually moving to barracks on King's Hill and complete repair of the bridge seemed unnecessary. The troops made a temporary foot bridge of planks resting on barrels.

Today, at the same spot, a more sturdy structure, called the Hamilton Bridge, names after Sir Hamilton Goold Adams, Governor of the then Orange River Colony, provides access to vehicular traffic from the town crossing the Wilge River.

It was open to traffic on 7 August 1907.

In 1910 with the extension of the President Brand Park toward the south the town council kept the tradition of a suspension bridge and the existing suspension bridge was then built.  

The urban area has increased over the past decades and today there are new developments in this area. But the old Hamilton will stand tall.

Thanks to Nico and Biebie for sharing their photo's

Till next time

Sandra

The Castles of the veld

Blockhouses that look like fanciful little castles of the South African War in 1899-1902

They were all intended to keep the ever-mobile Boers from accessing British supply lines. 

On a road trip through South Africa you'll often come across these little castles, 

standing in a field or on the outskirts of a town or on a hill overlooking a highway. 

Life in a blockhouse generally consisted of a few British soldiers under a hot tin roof. 

More than 90% of their time was spent in boredom. 

The soldiers kept themselves busy with gardening and the cleaning of equipment. 

Then there was that 10% of white-hot action, when the Boers came visiting.

For the purposes of this blog post a 'masonry blockhouse' is a structure of mortared 

stonework or concrete, one to three storeys in height, with a roof of timber and 

corrugated iron, with rifle ports, windows and doors protected by loopholed 

steel plates and with or without steel machicouli galleries.

 A machicouli had a ‎Post-medieval use for through objects onto the enemy 

It took 30 Royal Engineers all of 30 days, on average, to cut the stone and
construct one at a cost of £900. 

Royal Engineers built a total of 441 masonry blockhouses through out South Africa during the War.   

We would like to introduce you to the Reservoir Blockhouse at Harrismith

The Reservoir Blockhouse exhibit a gabled roof, with vertical corrugated cladding on the gable ends and the roof is cut back over the machicouli galleries. There is loopholes on each side of the entrance at first floor level. The small monopitch roofs and vertical cladding covering the galleries on the Reservoir Blockhouse at Harrismith represent another original variant to the design.

The oldest photo we could find of the Reservoir Blockhouse after completion 

A photo taken during the War of the Blockhouse and its occupants.
They kept animals for companion and planted gardens 
You can see this soldier and his dog  

Today the blockhouse is a National Monument and it can be reached by foot in the 

Platberg Eco Reserve.  It is almost a 2 km walk  

A sign showing the way 

A steep route of up and down to the blockhouse 

A sign asking for respect 

The Gallery 

A little bench to sit an take-in all the detail 

Close-up of a rifle portholes

Some of the graffiti on the walls read

J Rickup 4 M. Riffles 

David Hunter Brisbane 

F W Difield 

C Clark 1037 

The roof construction

I hope that you have find something interesting in the history of South Africa  

Lots of Love 
Sandra