Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal
Encyclopedia
Estcourt is a town in the uThukela District
Uthukela District Municipality
uThukela is one of the 11 districts of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The seat of uThukela is the city of Ladysmith. The majority of its 656 986 people speak IsiZulu...
of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The main economic activity is farming with large bacon
Bacon
Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
and processed food factories situated around the town. The N3 freeway
N3 (South Africa)
The N3 is a National Route in South Africa, connecting Johannesburg and Durban, respectively South Africa's largest and third-largest cities. Johannesburg is the financial and commercial heartland of South Africa, while Durban is South Africa's key port and one of the busiest ports in the Southern...
passes close to the town, linking it to the rest of South Africa.
Location
Estcourt is located at the confluence of the Bushmans and the Little Bushmans River. It is also on the main DurbanDurban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
- Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
railway line some 160 km north of Durban and 25 km south of the Tugela River
Tugela River
The Tugela River is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The river originates in the Drakensberg Mountains, Mont-aux-Sources, and plunges 947 metres down the Tugela Falls...
crossing. In earlier years the main road, later to become the N3, passed through the town. The town itself is 1196 m above sea level and lies in the hilly country that dominates most of the Natal Midlands
KwaZulu-Natal Midlands
The KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is an inland area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that lies outside of Pietermaritzburg but before the Drakensberg mountain range....
. The Drakensberg
Drakensberg
The Drakensberg is the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, rising to in height. In Zulu, it is referred to as uKhahlamba , and in Sesotho as Maluti...
lies some 40 km to the west of the town.
The Nineteenth Century
The earliest identifiable inhabitants of the Estcourt area were the bushmenBushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
, a hunter-gather people, though rock engravings dating from four different iron age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
periods have been found on the farm Hattingsvlakte. The bushmen had been displaced by the Bantu people, a pastoral people and in particular the Zulu, a tribe that traced its origins as a separate nation to the early eighteenth century. The bushmen had sought sanctuary in the foothills of the Drakensberg. In the early nineteenth century the Zulu king Shaka
Shaka
Shaka kaSenzangakhona , also known as Shaka Zulu , was the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom....
used the weapon of Mfecane
Mfecane
Mfecane , also known by the Sesotho name Difaqane or Lifaqane, was a period of widespread chaos and warfare among indigenous tribes in southern Africa during the period between 1815 to about 1840....
(genocide) to build his empire. Thus, when the white settlers first arrived in the Estcourt area, the land appeared to be almost uninhabited.
The First Settlers
The first recorded settlement in the Estcourt area was in 1838 when a group of Voortrekkers encamped on the banks of the Bushmans River in anticipation of securing land right from Dingane kaSenzangakhonaDingane
Dingane kaSenzangakhona Zulu —commonly referred to as Dingane or Dingaan—was a Zulu chief who became king of the Zulu Kingdom in 1828...
, the Zulu king. The negotiator, Piet Retief
Piet Retief
Pieter Mauritz Retief was a South African Boer leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent Xhosa territory...
, and his party were murdered by Dingane on 10 February 1838 and in the small hours of the following morning attacks, since known as the Weenen massacre
Weenen massacre
The Weenen Massacre was the massacre of Voortrekkers by the Zulu on 17 February 1838. After the murder of Piet Retief and his delegation, the Zulu chief Dingane sent his impis to exterminate the remaining voortrekkers who were camped at Doringkop, Bloukrans The Weenen Massacre was the massacre of...
, were launched on the Voortrekker encampments along the Bloukrans River, the Bushmans River and the Mooi River. After a Voortrekker retaliation at the Battle of Blood River
Battle of Blood River
The Battle of Blood River, so called due to the colour of water in the Ncome River turning red with blood, was fought between 470 Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius, and an estimated 10,000–15,000 Zulu attackers on the bank of the Ncome River on 16 December 1838, in what is today KwaZulu-Natal,...
, Dingane was deposed and his place taken by Mpande
Mpande
Mpande , uMsimude owavela ngesiluba phakathi kwamaNgisi namaQadasi, as he was praised, was king of the Zulu nation from 1840 to 1872, making him the longest reigning Zulu king. He was a half-brother of Shaka and Dingane, who both preceded him as kings of the Zulu...
. Panda seceded the land south of the Tugela River to the settlers which included the area that was to become Estcourt. The Voortrekkers set up the Natalia Republic
Natalia Republic
The Natalia Republic was a short-lived Boer republic, established in 1839 by local Afrikaans-speaking Voortrekkers shortly after the Battle of Blood River. The republic was located on the coast of the Indian Ocean beyond the Eastern Cape, and was previously named Natalia by Portuguese sailors. The...
, but after the Battle of Congella
Battle of Congella
-Background:According to South African history, in the mid-1820s King Shaka swept through the countryside now known as KwaZulu-Natal, killing almost the entire native population of bushmen. Through his conquests king Shaka founded the first unified Zulu Kingdom...
in 1842, they abandoned their settlements and moved into the interior, leaving Natalia to the British who established the Colony of Natal
Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...
. Thus Natal acquired an English-speaking rather than an Afrikaans-speaking
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
settler community and Estcourt, being so close to the Tugela River become a frontier outpost.
In 1847 Clem Heeley was the owner of an inn and trading store at a ford on the Bushman’s River. On 4 December that year a military post known as Bushman's River Post was established on a hill dominating the ford, whilst at the same time a village known as Bushman's River was established across the river. On 4 January 1848 the Surveyor General recommended that the seat for the new magisterial district of Impofane be located at Bushmans River Drift. Initially the recommendation was ignored and the magistracy was located at Weenen, some 30 km away but in 1859, with the growing importance of Estcourt, the seat was moved there.
The Byrne Settlers and the Name "Estcourt"
The settler community was further strengthened by the arrival of the Byrne Settlers - English immigrants whose settlement in the Colony was sponsored by Thomas Estcourt, a North WiltshireNorth Wiltshire (UK Parliament constituency)
North Wiltshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Until 1983, it was known as Chippenham.- Boundaries :As the name suggests, the constituency covers most of north Wiltshire...
, MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
. In 1946 there appears have been conflicting suggestions of why the town was called "Esctourt" - one body of opinion favouring the view that the town was named after Captain Estcourt, a member of the party who established the military outpost in 1847 and the other favouring the view that the town was named after Thomas Estcourt MP in 1863. Pearce, after extensive research which was backed up by the Ralfe family legend, supported the latter view which is now the accepted view.
The Settlement Grows
In 1872 an Anglican church was built on the banks of the Bushman's River, and Fort Durnford was built in 1874 by Lt-Col Durnford, a military engineer, as a base for the Natal Mounted Police. The fort became a substantial stronghold, and was used to protect transport riders and the herds of cattle driven across the ford. It is as secure as any castle with drinking water tanks in the basement, a drawbridge, moat and two secret tunnels.The confirmation of large deposits of coal in the Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
area in 1880, some 100 km north of Estcourt led to the building of a railway line to link the coalfields with Durban. In 1885 the railway reached Estcourt and a bridge that is still in use today was built across the Bushman’s River. The completion of the line to the coalfields the following year provided Estcourt with a good communications link to the coast.
After a number of attempts to establish private schools had failed due to lack of support, the town's first government school, the Estcourt Government School was established in 1886 with an initial role of 45 children. In accordance with the prevailing colonial policy, the school only admitted pupils of European descent.
In 1895, the traveller Ingram described Estcourt as having " ...
buildings [that] are strong and substantial, being for the most part constructed of hewn stone. A fort crowns the hill to the southward. There are in the town three churches, four hotels, and at the station a railway bar, A commodious sanatorium in connection with the Roman Catholic Mission has recently been established near the town. The population is put down at about 300 residents, though on market days, quite a large throng of farmers are to be met in its streets."
The mission station itself had been opened in 1892 - the second Augustinian Sisters
Augustinian nuns
Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Roman Catholic Augustinian religious order under the canons of contemporary historical method. The Augustinian nuns, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , are several Roman Catholic enclosed monastic orders of women living...
establishement in Natal staffed mainly by French-speaking nuns from Canada and France. The mission had a school, sanatorium and a chapel for the Roman Catholic families in the town. The sanatorium was well used during the period when the railway line was being constructed and during the Boer War. Due to an economic depression after the war the school was unable to survive and the sanatorium had to complete with a nursing home that was run by one of the two doctors in the town. Changing attitudes after Vatican II and the opening of hospitals run by the Provincial Departments contributed to the order closing its mission and the sanatorium in Estcourt in the late 1960's.
In 1899, when he arrived at Estcourt as a war correspondent, Churchill described the town as "a South African town—that is to say, it is a collection of about three hundred detached stone or corrugated iron houses, nearly all one-storied, arranged along two broad streets—for space is plentiful—or straggling away towards the country".
The Boer War
When the Anglo-Boer War broke out on 10 October 1899, the Boer forces had 21,000 men ready to invade the Colony of Natal. Ranged against them, the British had 13,000 men. The Boers under the command of General Petrus JoubertPetrus Jacobus Joubert
Petrus Jacobus Joubert , better known as Piet Joubert was Commandant-General of the South African Republic from 1880 to 1900.-Early life:...
crossed the border into the Natal Colony and rapidly advanced to the Tugela river, laying siege to Ladysmith
Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal
Ladysmith is a city in the Uthukela District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is north-west of Durban and south of Johannesburg. Important industries in the area include food processing, textile and tyre production...
, some 40 km north of the river and entrapping some 8,000 British regulars. Estcourt effectively became the front and this is where General Sir Redvers Buller
Redvers Buller
General Sir Redvers Henry Buller VC GCB GCMG was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
first established his Natal headquarters and where Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, then a war correspondent based himself. On 15 November a raiding party ambushed an armoured train at Frere, 20 km north of Estcourt taking 70 prisoners including Chuchill. After another raiding party was surprised on 23 November at Willow Grange, 10 km to the south of Estcourt, the Boers withdrew to a position behind the Tugela River. British reinforcements arrived and once Ladysmith was relieved on 1 March 1900, formal Boer opposition melted away and the colony was secured.
The Twentieth Century
As the twentieth century dawned, Estcourt's position as a communications hub was enhanced by the building of the Estcourt - Weenen railway line in 1907 to enable agricultural produce from Weenen to reach the main cities. (This line was closed in 1983).Municipal Development
Estcourt became a municipality in 1914. The Augustinian Order of Natal, having been present in the town since the 1890's built a chapel in 1929.In the last census of the century, taken in 1991, the population of Esctourt was recorded as being approximately 3 407 whites, 710 coloureds, 5 432 asians and 1 296 blacks.
Industrial development
During the twentieth century, Estcourt developed from being a market town serving the local farming community to one in which the products from the farming community were used in the manufacture of consumer products.At some time close to the start of the twentieth century, Joseph Baynes, a Byrne settler and dairy industry pioneer, established a milk processing plant in Estcourt under the name of the Natal Creamery Ltd. This factory was located adjacent to the railway station. Baynes died in 1925 and in 1927 the factory, which by this time was owned by South African Condensed Milk Ltd was bought by Nestlés. Today the factory produces Coffee, MILO and NESQUIK.
In August 1917 the Farmer's Co-operative Bacon Factory Limited was founded and the building of the factory commenced. The factory was opened on 6 June 1918 by the Prime Minister General Louis Botha
Louis Botha
Louis Botha was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state...
and marketed its products under the brand name Eskort. The following year the factory commenced exports to the United Kingdom and during the Second World War supplied over one million tins of sausages to the Allied forces all over the world and over 12 tonnes of bacon weekly to convoys calling at Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
harbour. A sister plant was built in Heidelberg and in 1967 the Eskort brand was the largest processed meat brand in South Africa. Inn 1998 the company was converted from a cooperative to a limited liability company.
1948 saw the establishment of the Masonite factory in Estcourt. Masonite was a hardboard product developed in the United States in 1924 by William H. Mason. The mill in Estcourt, but its headquarters are in Durban and uses timber harvested from 21 922.2 ha of productive commercial plantations owned by the company. The mill currently employs 900 people and chips 600 logs a day.
In 1963 the 58.5 million cubic metre Wagendrift dam was constructed on the Bushmans river some 2 km upstream from the town of Estcourt. The dam was designed to irrigate 3000 ha of land that lay upstream from the river's confluence with the Tugela
Tugela
Tugela is a brown Thoroughbred mare. Bred by Khalid Abdullah's prominent Juddmonte Farms. Tugela was sired by Riverman and out of Rambushka who in turn was a daughter of Epsom Derby winner, Roberto, a two-time Leading sire in France.Tugela is best known as the dam of Makybe Diva , the champion...
River.
Education
At the turn of the century, the Estcourt Government School had about 100 children and only offered formal education at primary level, even though the occasional bright student was coached at secondary level to enable them to enter university.By the 1920s the school had expanded to 226 children and in 1924 four children sat the matriculation exam. This sparked a growth in demand for secondary education and in 1927 the school was split into two - Estcourt Junior School retaining the old school building and Estcourt High School
Estcourt High School
-History:Estcourt High School was founded in 1924 from the upper forms of the Estcourt Government School when it was split into two.- Estcourt Government School :...
(as the secondary school later became known) moving to Hospital Hill on the outskirts of the town. The new school had a boarding establishment and soon the number of boarders outnumbered the number of day pupils.
After the Second World War, both schools continued to grow and in 1960 a second primary school - Drakensview School was built to accommodate the overflow from the Estcourt Junior School.