Die geskiedenis van Kuilsrivier, 1652-1905
Date
1993-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:
Ofskoon die gebied wat later bekend sou staan as die Kaapse Vlakte en Duine eeue lank reeds deur jagters en veeboere bewoon is, was dit blanke setlaars wat na die stigting van 'n verversingspos aan die Kaap, vanaf 1680, die gebied sou bewerk en omvorm.
'n Uitspanplek vir reisigers van en na die Kaap was noodsaaklik, en daarom was De Kuilen, vanwee sy ligging, die aangewese plek vir die oprigting van 'n Kompanjiespos in 1680 waar veldwagters gestasioneer kon word. Hierdie amptenare het in 'n wisselende mate beheer uitgeoefen oor die vryburgers in die binneland. In 1700 is De Kuilen verkoop aan kaptein Olof Bergh, die hoof van die Kaapse garnisoen.
Na 1700 het die plaas De Kuilen steeds as 'n halfweghuis gedien, alhoewel dit gedurende die agtiende eeu en die eerste helfte van die negentiende eeu met kort tussenposes van eienaar verwissel het. Die plaaslike gemeenskap, net soos die in die Kolonie, kon egter nie vinnig ontwikkel nie, aangesien 'n toereikende verbindingsweg oor die sanderige Kaapse Vlakte ontbreek het.
Die landmeter-generaal, luitenant-kolonel C. C. Michell, het hierin die inisiatief geneem. In Desember 1845 is die hardepad, met die hulp van andietearbeid, voltooi. Dit het gelyk asof die gemeenskap by Kuilsrivier op die drumpel van groot ontwikkeling staan. Die drie herberge met hul kantiens, wat ook as negosie-winkels gedien het, het gefloreer. Met die aanbou van die spoorlyn vanaf Kaapstad in 1862, is egter teen die verwagting van die inwoners in, besluit dat Kuilsrivier slegs 'n spoorweghalte sou kry, en dat nie alle passasierstreine daar sou stilhou nie. Die besluit het verdere ontwikkeling gestrem.
Kuilsrivier se inwoners is oor die jare heen nou betrek by gebeure van nasionale omvang, soos die agitasie in 1849-1850 om die invoer van surplus-bandiete uit Engelse tronke te verhoed. George Holloway, een van die herbergiers op Kuilsrivier, se versuim om aan die eise van die Anti-bandietegenootskap toe te gee, het bankrot gespeel.
Die kerk het, soos in alle Afrikaner-gemeenskappe destyds, belangrike rot gespeel in die Kuilsrivierse gemeenskap. Die onwrikbare geloof en deursettingsvermod van die vrome
Johanna (Jana) van der Berg, het die grondslag gele vir die oprigting in 1843 van 'n kerk en skool deur die Rynse Sendinggenootskap in Sarepta. Onder leiding van onderwysers, soos Hendrik January, het die onderwys en die kerk gevorder.
Na 'n paar onsuksesvolle pogings in die sestigerjare van die negentiende eeu is in Augustus 1874 met 'n skool vir blanke leerlinge begin. Die koms van Charles Mathurin Villet in 1881 het 'n periode van kulturele en godsdienstige oplewing ingelui. Sy opvolger, die sterk Afrikanergesinde Pieter Francois de Wet, wat vanaf 1892 tot 1905 skoolhoof was, se dienstermyn is gekenmerk deur personeeluitbreiding en die aanbou van 'n nuwe skoolgebou.
In die laaste dekades van die negentiende eeu is plaasskole in die Vlaeberg en Bottelary
omgewings gestig.
Sommige van Kuilsrivier se inwoners het na Stellenbosch gegaan vir hul kerklike voorregte en behoeftes; die meerderheid was egter lidmate van die Durbanvillese gemeente. Di. Johannes Jacobus Beck (1834-1886) en Anton Daniel Liickhoff (1886-1903) het op 'n redelik gereelde grondslag dienste gehou in die skoolgebou op Kuilsrivier. In 1903 is die selfstandige gemeente, Kuilsrivier, gestig. Die kleurryke ds. Herman Dirk van Broekhuizen is in 1904 as
die eerste predikant bevestig.
Kuilsrivier het destyds onder die Stellenbosse kiesafdeling geressorteer, en die beroeringe op politieke gebied het die gemeenskap direk geraak. Die agitasie vir die uitbreiding van die stasiefasiliteite op Kuilsrivier, byvoorbeeld, het 'n sterk politieke inslag gehad. Die uitbreek van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in 1899 het die verhouding tussen die Afrikanergesindes en die sogenaamde "jingo's", sterk beInvloed.
Die klein gemeenskappe van Kuilsrivier, wat destyds hoofsaaklik saamgestel was uit groenteboere, maar ook die druiweboere teen die hange van die Bottelary heuwels, het 'n opvallende aantal belangrike skrywers opgelewer.
Die vroegste bewys van die aanwesigheid van die muse onder die inwoners van die
Kuilsrivierse omgewing, is die kosbare handgeskrewe Verseboek van die Bosmans, waarin gedigte opgeneem is wat van 1773 tot 1813 in die Bottelary geskryf is deur Susanna Bos man van die plaas Welgelegen en haar twee dogters, Susanna Johanna Schabordt en Maria
Margaretha de Waal wat op Langverwacht, buite Kuilsrivier, gewoon het.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: In spite of its being inhabited by hunters and stock-farmers for many centuries, the area later known as the Cape Flats and Dunes was to be worked and developed by the white settlers after the founding of a refreshment post, from 1860 onwards. Travellers to and from the Cape needed a place to outspan and thus De Kuilen, owing to its location, was the appropriate place for the provision of a Company Post in 1680 where field rangers could be stationed. These officials exerted varying degrees of control over the Free Burghers of the interior. In 1700 De Kuilen was sold to Captain Olof Bergh, officer commanding of the Cape garrison. After 1700 the farm De Kuilen served as a halfway house, although it often changed hands during the first half of the nineteenth century. Like the rest of the Colony, the local community could not develop fast, owing to inadequate road links over the sandy Cape Flats. The surveyor general, lieutenant-colonel C.C. Michell, took the initiative in this regard. In 1845 the hard road was completed with the aid of convict labour and it seemed as if the community at Kuilsrivier stood on the threshold of extensive development. The three inns with their canteens, which also served as shops, prospered. With the advent of the railway line from Cape Town in 1862, it was decided that Kuilsrivier would serve only as railway siding, and that passenger trains would not stop there. This decision etarded further development. The inhabitants of Kuilsrivier have, over the years, been closely involved with occurrences of national significance, such as the 1849-1850 Anti-Convict Agitation. George Holloway, a Kuilsrivier inn-keeper, went bankrupt owing to his refusal to yield to the demands of the Anti-Convict Association. As in all Afrikaner communities, the church was prominent in the community. The steadfast faith and perseverance of the pious Johanna (Jana) van der Bergh led to the founding of a church and school by the Rhenish Missionary Society in Sarepta in 1843. Led by teachers like Hendrik January, school and church progressed. After a few unsuccessful attempts in the 1860's, a school for white pupils was founded in August 1874. With the arrival of Charles Mathurin Villet in 1881, a period of cultural and religious revival commenced. The term of office of his successor, the strongly pro-Afrikaner Pieter Francois de Wet, headmaster from 1892 to 1905 was characterised by staff enlargement and the erection of a new school building. During the last decades of the nineteenth century, farm schools were founded in the Bottelary and Vlaeberg regions. Some Kuilsrivier inhabitants travelled to Stellenbosch for their religious privileges and needs. The majority, however, belonged to the Durbanville parish. The rev. Mr Johannes Jacobus Beck (1834-1886) and the rev. Mr Anton Daniel Liickhoff (1886-1903) regularly held services in the school building at Kuilsrivier. The independent parish of Kuilsrivier was founded in 1903. The colourful rev. Mr Herman Dirk Broekhuizen was ordained as the first minister in 1904. Kuilsrivier fell under the Stellenbosch constituency, and occurrences of political nature affected the community directly. Agitation for the extension of station facilities at Kuilsrivier, for instance, had a strong political character. The outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899 strongly influenced the relationship between the pro-Afrikaner faction and the so-called "jingos". The small community of Kuilsrivier, at the time constituting of mainly vegetable farmers, but also of grape farmers against the slopes of the Bottelary hills, produced a surprising number of significant authors. The earliest proof of the muse among the inhabitants of the region is the valuable handwritten Verseboek van die Bosmans containing poems written between 1773 and 1813 in the Bottelary by Susanna Bosman of the farm Welgelegen, and her two daughters, Susanna Johanna Schabordt and Maria Margaretha de Waal of Langverwacht, outside Kuilsrivier.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: In spite of its being inhabited by hunters and stock-farmers for many centuries, the area later known as the Cape Flats and Dunes was to be worked and developed by the white settlers after the founding of a refreshment post, from 1860 onwards. Travellers to and from the Cape needed a place to outspan and thus De Kuilen, owing to its location, was the appropriate place for the provision of a Company Post in 1680 where field rangers could be stationed. These officials exerted varying degrees of control over the Free Burghers of the interior. In 1700 De Kuilen was sold to Captain Olof Bergh, officer commanding of the Cape garrison. After 1700 the farm De Kuilen served as a halfway house, although it often changed hands during the first half of the nineteenth century. Like the rest of the Colony, the local community could not develop fast, owing to inadequate road links over the sandy Cape Flats. The surveyor general, lieutenant-colonel C.C. Michell, took the initiative in this regard. In 1845 the hard road was completed with the aid of convict labour and it seemed as if the community at Kuilsrivier stood on the threshold of extensive development. The three inns with their canteens, which also served as shops, prospered. With the advent of the railway line from Cape Town in 1862, it was decided that Kuilsrivier would serve only as railway siding, and that passenger trains would not stop there. This decision etarded further development. The inhabitants of Kuilsrivier have, over the years, been closely involved with occurrences of national significance, such as the 1849-1850 Anti-Convict Agitation. George Holloway, a Kuilsrivier inn-keeper, went bankrupt owing to his refusal to yield to the demands of the Anti-Convict Association. As in all Afrikaner communities, the church was prominent in the community. The steadfast faith and perseverance of the pious Johanna (Jana) van der Bergh led to the founding of a church and school by the Rhenish Missionary Society in Sarepta in 1843. Led by teachers like Hendrik January, school and church progressed. After a few unsuccessful attempts in the 1860's, a school for white pupils was founded in August 1874. With the arrival of Charles Mathurin Villet in 1881, a period of cultural and religious revival commenced. The term of office of his successor, the strongly pro-Afrikaner Pieter Francois de Wet, headmaster from 1892 to 1905 was characterised by staff enlargement and the erection of a new school building. During the last decades of the nineteenth century, farm schools were founded in the Bottelary and Vlaeberg regions. Some Kuilsrivier inhabitants travelled to Stellenbosch for their religious privileges and needs. The majority, however, belonged to the Durbanville parish. The rev. Mr Johannes Jacobus Beck (1834-1886) and the rev. Mr Anton Daniel Liickhoff (1886-1903) regularly held services in the school building at Kuilsrivier. The independent parish of Kuilsrivier was founded in 1903. The colourful rev. Mr Herman Dirk Broekhuizen was ordained as the first minister in 1904. Kuilsrivier fell under the Stellenbosch constituency, and occurrences of political nature affected the community directly. Agitation for the extension of station facilities at Kuilsrivier, for instance, had a strong political character. The outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899 strongly influenced the relationship between the pro-Afrikaner faction and the so-called "jingos". The small community of Kuilsrivier, at the time constituting of mainly vegetable farmers, but also of grape farmers against the slopes of the Bottelary hills, produced a surprising number of significant authors. The earliest proof of the muse among the inhabitants of the region is the valuable handwritten Verseboek van die Bosmans containing poems written between 1773 and 1813 in the Bottelary by Susanna Bosman of the farm Welgelegen, and her two daughters, Susanna Johanna Schabordt and Maria Margaretha de Waal of Langverwacht, outside Kuilsrivier.
Description
Tesis (M.A.) -- Stellenbosch University, 1993.
Keywords
Kuils River (Western Cape, South Africa) -- History, Dissertations -- History