SOUTH AFRICA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 28 July 1928, Page 11

SOUTH AFRICA

(Written for “The Star”’by “ F.Gi'')

In .1652 Jan Anthony van Riebee'k, a servant of the Dutch East India Company, landed at .of Good Hope to establish a victualling depot for tlio ships of t)he company, as they sailed to and from ithe East Indies. Riebeelt’s companions in this landing were not all of one nationality, but consisted of Frisian or Dutch, German, Swedish, and English. They were very Lardy men, of good physique, great, en-

durance, and adventurous courage. They were mostly soldiers and sailors Mini with an-inborn love of a. wild, untrammelled, roving life. Thus started the history of South Africa as far as

its European 'population is concerned, and the influence of these hardy old ' pioneers on later political developments on what has since •become to be understood as South Africa/ has been .tremendous, and to-day, after a passage of ,27'6 years, the same determined dauntless spirit of .Riebeek’s men rings true in the hearts of all true-born South Africans. Olive Sehriener, that great authoritatvie writer on South Africa, says of Eiebeek’s men: “Over

the shoulders of ithe men who took their aim at Majuba Hill, and . behind the men arid women who again and again on their long and terrible marches through South African deserts, have seen their kindred fall dead at their

feet, of thirst and want, and have yet

moved on, one sees the faces of these old rough forebears looking! The South African Boor becomes fully intelligible only when we remember that the blood of these men runs in him, modified truly nnd powerfully by other elements, but netivo in him still.’' After thirty years’ residence at the Cape the little settlement comprised only 293 white ruen and 88 white women. The directors of the Dutch East India Company sent out respectable girls from certain orphanages in

Holland to become the wives of the unmarried colonists. Herein lies the secret of the South African’s love of his country. These orphan girls took witli them to their now homos no very happy recollections and warm and tender memories of their 1 home land and childhood to plant and cultivate in the hearts of their children. To them their new home was indeed something beyond their wildest dreams. From the harshness and hard living within the walls of a public orphanage, at that date to homes of their own with husbands who welcomed them was indeed a contrast most impressing. To them there was no land in the world to compare with South Africa, and with the passage of years these sentiments have been transmitted through their children from generation to generation.

In JOBS there arrived at the Cape about 200 French 'Protestant refugees who had boon driven from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the Dutch Government gave ‘them protection in South Africa. 'These French colonists were of a very different type to those already settled in the settlement. They were on the whole a very desirable class of men and women. They were agriculturists, vine-dressers, and mechanics, and also a small •sprinkling of the professional classes. This 'Hugonot strain constituted the aristocracy of the settlement, and so pronounced has been its influence that there are probably very few South Africans (Boers) of the true type who have not French Huguenot blood in their veins, and the most noted families the Pape boar French names —de Villiers, Jouberfs de To its. Nando's and even th'ose families with names such at Roiitze, Van Aart, TTofmeyer, or Kruger, 'will generally be found on investigation to be of French extract.

fn many respects the Government of the Dutch East India Company was fair, but in the main it crushed the colonists by regulating the smallest details of daily life. They were not allowed to trade with the natives for fear of interfering with the company’s profits, and they were prevented from cropping the land as they wished, and strictly forbidden to grow coffee and spice on account of interfering with tljs company’s monopoly in the Mast. Was ii to be wondered at that these free-dom-loving roving sailors and soldiers and religions exiles rebelled at such Treatment and preparing their great bullock-waggons placed all their belongings into them and moved northward over the,':;moontains? Thus began, about 1!H1 years ago, that long “tick” which Tias'Carried the "Boor into every part of what we now understand as South Africa. This wandering continued for generation after generation and often children were born in the bullockwaggon and grew up and lived and died and knew no other home. Is it any wonder then that the descendants of these desert-born people should prove such worthy rivals on the football fields against our “All Blacks.’’ It is from the “ fore-trekkers ’ ’ that we get many names of places such as Mat.jcsfontein. Jackalsfontein, Wildckatfontein, and Bloemfontein, etc. These were originally the names of the water springs or fountains beside which the fore-trek-kers camped.

BBTTI STI OOCT T PATfOX. The British first •conquered the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch Hast India Company in 170'.', and in 1803 ii was restored to the Batavian '’Republic in accordance with the Treaty of Amiens. Great .Britain again conquered it in .1806 and held it till ISI4 when she 'bought it from the King of Netherlands for £0,000,000 and since that time it has permanently .belonged to the British. In the early days wc find the names of such able governors as General Dundns. tho Karl of Cado-

HOME OF OUR RUGBY RIVALS

“THE GREAT TREK.”

gan, and Sir John Cradoek, men of tact and sound judgment. But in Lord Charles Somerset we come across a man of unusual ability and energy, but judging by results we would say singularly lacking iu tact. One ou'ts’t an cling ! thing was liis arming of Hof t entots and placing them under the English as police-soldiers in control of the country. To this the Boers took great exception, and in .1815 one, Frederick Bezuidonhout, was shot by Hottentot police for refusing to obey a summons to appear before the count of Grant Beinet, for striking a native. The shooting of Frederick Bezuidenhout led to a rebellion in -which many good lives were sacrificed and one cannot read the details without a feeling of (admiration for.the bravery displayed by the so-called rebels. One of the number, Frederick Bezuidenhout ”s brother, Jan, with his wife and son of twelve years of age, faced an English major, with one hundred Hottentots and twentytwo White .men. When .called upon to surrender Bezuidenhout' fired. His wife and son stepped to his side to reload his guns, but as was inevitable, all three were shot, Bezuidenhout mortally, and died in a few hours, while the wife and son were made prisoners and afterwards the wife was sentenced to banishment for life. On M'aTch 9. 1816, Hendrick - Prinsloo, Cornelius Faber, Stefa nus Bothnia, Abraham Bothnia and Theunis de Klerk were hanged at a place called Slather's Nek, or the Butcher’s Neck, for taking part iu the same rebellion. This would seem a drastic, sentence for men who had shed no blo’od and all they desired was to be allowed to live in freedom and not be policed by Hottentots. The worst feature of the execution was that the scaffold gave,. why under the weight of such heavily ibuilt .powerful men and thev were ... half strangled. This mishap was looked upon bv 'the wives and sisters of the 'condemned men as an (act of God, but their entreaties were in vain. The scaffold was repaired and when the men had regained consciousness thev were again forced to mount for their execution. Thus started that ill-feeling towards England, •which culminated in the Boer War in 189.0.

Tn 1836 the feeling of bitterness was so intense that large numbers of individuals made up their minds to leave the Cape Colony and move northwards into regions yet unoccupied 'by white men. This migration is now 'known in 'South African history as “The Great Trek.’’' Associated with “The' Great Trek’’ we find the names of Trichard Potgieter (after whom the town Piotrhefstroom is named), Moritz and Piet Mauritz Rotief the man after whom is named Pietermaritzburg). Among those who wore with Potgieter was Paul Kruger, a boy of ten years of age and who afterwards became world famous as the president of He Transvaal Republic. The .awful har 1ships of these people can hardlv be imagined in a country such as we possess. 'Their 'desperate fights against tremendous odds with the Zulus, *n which on one occasion Sard C. Hides, supported by forty men, including boys of twelve, amongst whom was Paul Kruger, met an onslaught of thousands of Zulu's, brings one to wonder how human beings could survive such gruelling times, yet those hardy, brave people overcame all obstacles and lived to found two republics, and their descendants have since welded two republics into the Booth African 1 nioii under the British flag. The latter is a 'most remarkable occurrence considering the great dislike there existed for Britain in South Africa, even as late as t wen tv years ago; but during the .Great War we had ample proof of South Africa’s loyalty to the British Government and their representative at the Versailles Peace Conference, General Smuts, proved himself to he unsurpassed in statesmanship throughout the world.

On-December Ifi, IS3S the Zulu army was 'defeated and the “fore-trekkers” settled down and founded a republic in Natal, uvifh Pietermaritzburg—named after their lea dot —as the seat ■of Government. But they wore not allowed to remain long without molestation from outside powers. 'Diamonds having been discovered in the country the British Government despatched soldiers to enforce their claim to annex Natal ns .British territory. The bulk of 'the people absolutely refused to remain under British rule and in ISu2 they crossed over the Drakensluug Mountains, and uniting with those foretrekkyrs, who were already there, founded another republic, later known as the 'South African Republic or Trnnsv’anl. Here they remained in peace until gold was discovered in 'their midst, when trouble commenced again. In 18S0 an attempt was made by tuo British Government to annex this territory also. The later history of the Transvaal is of too recent nature to need comment. The events immediately leading up to what we now know as the Boer War. and the many encounters which our forces entered against the Boers proved the South Africans to be representatives of a race of people capable of producing the very best types of manhood. In generalship and' statesmanship it is nard 'to find their equal. The South African never forms a. mob. but 'with his love of liberty and independence die combines a natural aptitude for working on concert. This is no doubt born of the environment to which he has been subject for so many generations and it is 'this trait in his general composition that makes him such a worthy 'but difficulti opponent to overcome on the football field.