SPIRIT OF PLACE: THE GREAT TREK

PLEASE NOTE: As newbies to Kudu my wife Pat and I are trying to view and record as much of its fascinating history as we possibly can, but can clearly see that it is going to be quite a long process to be tackled step by step. Herewith then is a summary of what we have learned so far in approaching the first of the structures discussed and measured by Miller - Site KB1A.

The information below is gleaned from a study of the Archeological Sites on Kudu Private Nature Reserve prepared by S.M. Miller in 1999, and kindly lent to me by Mike Parken who has much of the history of Kudu Private Nature Reserve carefully catalogued and stored for reference.

Scroll down for the layout and photographs of KB1A

.................................

On Kudu there are several structures that date back to the 19th Century - modest square stone buildings that are dotted around the farm. These small ruins are the sole remains of a number of families' lives, dreams, loves, wealth and death.

The Great Trek of disgruntled farmers of the Cape in the 1830's culminated in the arrival of small groups of pioneer farmers in the Transvaal during 1836/37. Most of the early pioneers originally stayed together in the SW of the Transvaal until after Mzilikazi and his people were removed from their strongholds to present day Bulawayo. Thereafter, in the late 1830's and throughout the 1840's a number of small towns were established, of which Lydenburg was one, all essentially as a result of Andries Potgieter's refusal to bow to the likes of Pretorius and the Volksraad. Potgieter was obsessively driven to stay away from the hand of British rule while at the same time looking for Trade-contact with the Dutch through an independent harbour (Lorenzo-Marques). In 1845 he shrugged off the 'harassment' of the Potchefstroom 'Old Guard', and carried on his personal "Great Trek" to the fertile valleys of what is today know as Ohrigstad and Lydenburg.

Sekwati, the father of Sekukini, had already been pushed into his wilderness fortresses by Mzilikazi's marauding armies during the Defekane period. (To get some idea of the full extent of Mzilikazi's reign of terror read "Path of Blood" by Dr. Peter Bekker published in 1962 by Longmans.) Sekwati nevertheless held sway over the mountains and rivers of the region, and negotiations on land issues with Potgieter realised the foundation of Andries-Ohrigstad, and the settlement on the surrounding farmland in July 1845.

Potgieter finally left Ohrigstad at the end of 1847 after numerous arguments and disagreements with J.J. Burger and various other settlers. At the end of 1849 those who had stayed finally abandoned the old Andries-Ohrigstad and moved 30 miles to the south. Lydenburg was laid out in 1848 at a place called Masising (Place of tall grass), which name it bears today.

With the finding of gold in the Pilgrims Rest area in the 1870's Lydenburg took on new status as the centre of the growing mining industry.

Owing to the extent of the farm Kudu, the roads, and the condition of the veld, it is difficult to appraise exactly how many of the early 'farmer' dwellings exist on Kudu. At least 16 sites are known at present, but it is expected that more will be found in due course.

These farms were occupied from 1845 onwards, and the size of the original farms were approximately 5000ha - and originally occupied by one owner only ... but the Lydenburg Eeufeesgedenkboek tells us that at the beginning of 1846, on the farm Doornhoek, there were 21 families living together. Families with up to 20 children were not unheard of, but mortality rates were high.

It is postulated that homesteads were, to a large extent, occupied by extended family units, and that they were built, and occupied, in the latter portion of the 19th Century. There are several features that the dwellings and sites have in common. In the first place they were built from stone and were no bigger than 50 square metres. Subdivision of the structure was rare. The use of clay brick has not been positively identified. A courtyard in front of the main dwelling was common, with additional structures added to either one, two or three sides. The use of Rondavels was common.

The dwellings are more often than not associated with stock pens, and one factor that is constant is the location of the sites on or near Iron Age sites due to the availability of stone for building purposes. One of the most important features absent at Kudu is the well known "Bread-Oven", which is one of the most outstanding features in Pioneer dwellings, and the non-occurrence thereof at Kudu does raise some questions.

..........................

Site KB1A provides some indication of development over time. The biggest single structure is the 10 x 14m stock pen. Against the northern side of the kraal is another 2 x 6m enclosure which could have been used for smaller stock such as sheep, goats or pigs.

The main house has a ground plan of 5 x 8m with a courtyard of 8 x 6m in front of it. There is a dwelling 5m to the north of the main house with a 4 x 5m floor plan and a courtyard of the same size. A further home 12m away to the north of the stockpens has a floor plan of 4 x 7m with a front door and two windows. To the west of this dwelling is another rather badly built house of 6 x 4m constructed of mud and stone around a knob-thorn pole structure.