I just got a telephone call from a chap called Flip Husselmann. Flip lives in our neighbouring town, Alexander Bay. He is an old timer, born over there back in the 40's.
Anyhow, he has friends that lived and worked for CDM back in those hazy days. The chap's name is Willem Van Der Merwe. Anyhow Willem was looking for some video or photographic material from those bygone days in Oranjemund. So he got hi mate, FLip to telephone the communications dept at Namdeb, who kindly pointed him in the direction of Oranjemundonline.
Now Flip is an old timer and does not work on the electronic Super Highway, so he got Spar's number and telephoned me...... and Wow! Did he have one tale after another about the history of Beauvallon, Brankaros, Hohenfels, Arrisdrift before CDM confiscated all their livestock and chased them back across the river..... His family had farms along the SOuth bank, He had a family member who was foreman at Beauvallon, he knows who owned what land there and whom the mine purchased the ground from... he reckons his mate, Willem has access to the net and should be online soon,
Malcolm and Bertie..... this might be a valuable source of info for looking more into the farms along the river.....
I am off on 10 days leave now, but have taken Flip's number and when he comes shopping here again, he will sit and have a wee bit of coffee with me and we can discuss more history....
He recalls the horse patrols and them being replaced by a bright yellow Willis Jeep....
I have to rush, but there is so much history.....
Hi Mike
This is the sort of stuff that we need. There is so little info about the farms and people that lived along the river. If you dont follow this up then Bertie and I will come and do VERY nasty things to you.
I wonder if he knew about Pat Honeyborne . . .
Hope to hear about this further.
Malcolm
Hehehe! Is the Sea Ponter threatening the College boy again? image201 image21
Malcom, I mentioned to him that you had been doing a bit of research into the topic, So if you are ever across here again, we can organize a coffee session, meanwhile I look forward to chatting with him when he pops into the Spar. I did'nt take notes when we spoke on the phone, but he spoke for close on to 15 minutes..... mentioning that the two mines, Alex Bay and CDM had a gentlman''s agreement not poach each other;s workers. He told me that they had a school across at Beavallon, before CDM days that went up as far as Std 6. He rattled off a lot of people's names..... I forgot to ask him if he knew anything more about the farm down at the mouth on our side of the river.....
Great stuff! My contact who has given me my original info, is out of the country quite often now, and doesn't know anything about computers/internet. He's thinking of settling in Uganda for a while, where his girlfriend is working on a 3-year contract. Fortunately she is getting her e-mail and internet sorted out and I might be able to communicate more soon.
Glad there's some more sources to cross-reference and get the whole story....
msn emoticon (8)
Keep the link going Bertie, I don't think there can be many people who have researched the history of those farms..... he also "Lost" his property to the mines back in the day, but has also put in a land claim with the gov, alongside the claim of the Richtersveldt community....
Hi Mike and Bertie
I know that Dunvlei had a Nama community living there and they were relocated in 1928 when the new Alex Bay mine started. Some of the farms along the SA side would also have been taken over or forced to sell. Hence all the land claims taking place now. I believe that Alex Bay has been handed back to the Richtersveldt community as well as Goodhouse further upriver.
Its a tricky situation, as the British, when they had control of SA, never recognised the Richtersveldt people as the legal owner of the land. Nor did any other previous governments. I guess the diamond wealth was one of the main reasons.
In Australia we've had long disputes and claims by the Aboriginals for native land titles. Even the sea is clamed as native titles. It will be an ongoing and long process.
By the way, I'm trying to get over by the end of the year, but have to go to China to work so might only make it in mid-year next year when I have 3 months leave. Look forward to meeting meeting Flip.
Malcolm
Seems to me there is history and tales book about Oranjemund/Alex Bay .... waiting to be written and where better than to start a topic right on this site, then we could publish it (online/print?). So much already is here, Bob's tales for example .... what y'all think?
Hi Cherry
I have finished writing a book about the Sperrgebiet and the Orange River region form Sendelings Drift down to the sea, and it includes a lot of the historical stuff.
This includes the SA side of the river (which I wasnt going to include originally). I have two publishers in SA that I'm negotiating with at the moment. Unfortunately its all takes time . . .
Malcolm