Matjiesfontein

Last updated

Matjiesfontein
Milner Hotel, Matjiesfontein.jpg
Lord Milner Hotel in Matjiesfontein
South Africa Western Cape location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Matjiesfontein
South Africa adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Matjiesfontein
Coordinates: 33°13′S20°35′E / 33.217°S 20.583°E / -33.217; 20.583 Coordinates: 33°13′S20°35′E / 33.217°S 20.583°E / -33.217; 20.583
Country South Africa
Province Western Cape
District Central Karoo
Municipality Laingsburg
Area
[1]
  Total1.22 km2 (0.47 sq mi)
Population
 (2011) [1]
  Total422
  Density350/km2 (900/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[1]
   Black African 1.2%
   Coloured 97.6%
   White 0.7%
  Other0.5%
First languages (2011)
[1]
   Afrikaans 97.4%
   Tswana 1.2%
  Other1.4%
Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)
PO box
6901
Area code 023

Matjiesfontein is a settlement in Central Karoo District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Contents

History

Matjiesfontein Station Station Matjiesfontein N1.JPG
Matjiesfontein Station

The original inhabitants of the region were the Khoikhoi herders and the San hunter gatherers. Following the arrival of the early European colonists, the area was settled by Afrikaner Trekboers and Griqua people.

Railway origins

The town itself owes its existence to the Cape Government Railways, and to the route that their founder, Cape Prime Minister John Molteno, chose for a railway line that would connect Cape Town's port to the diamond fields of Kimberley. The Royal Commonwealth Society (1898) records that in a meeting with his consulting engineers, the Prime Minister called for a map of Southern Africa to be brought to him and, taking a ruler, drew his pen along it from Cape Town all the way inland. He then handed the map to the engineers, telling them to build the railway accordingly. [2] [3]

The line rapidly extended inland, and a station was built on 1 February 1878, that was named "Matjiesfontein". The name was derived from a type of sedge, Cyperus textilis , used by Khoekhoen to make mats (matjies) employed in the construction of their huts. [4]

Logans refreshment station

Originally, Matjiesfontein was only a small depot and farm, however a Scotsman by the name of James Douglas Logan, who was superintendent of this stretch of railway, bought land at Matjiesfontein, moved there because of his weak chest, and opened a refreshment station for the passing trains. This was so successful that the business soon formed the nucleus of a growing village. Logan was unintentionally very influential in South African history as he had secured the catering contract for the railways through his friend in parliament, James Sivewright, and discovery of the corruption involved led to the fall of the first government of Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes in 1893. [5] [6] Logan was also considered to be one of the founding fathers of South African cricket. [7]

Development and layout

A town was laid out in the 1880s, and formally purchased in 1968 to be preserved for its Victorian charm. The whole town was declared a National Monument on 12 September 1975, [8] the railway station on 15 December 1989 and the cemetery on 23 September 1994. [9] [10] The cemetery houses the graves of British Army Major-General Andrew Wauchope (1846–1899) and English cricketer George Lohmann (1865–1901). In 2022, a new ground station for NASA's lunar exploration program was announced to be under construction in Matjiesfontein, scheduled to come online in 2025. [11] [12]

Location and surrounds

The town of Matjiesfontein is located 27 km west of Laingsburg and 54 km east of Touwsrivier. The surrounding Karoo region is a flat, sparsely populated semi-desert. Matjiesfontein has a healthy climate for people with lung complaints, and was once home to a Victorian spa and health resort. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karoo</span> Semi-desert region in South Africa

The Karoo is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laingsburg Local Municipality</span> Local municipality in Western Cape, South Africa

Laingsburg Municipality is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. As of 2011 the population is 8,289. Its municipality code is WC051.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laingsburg, South Africa</span> Place in Western Cape, South Africa

Laingsburg is a town located in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is a relatively large agricultural town in the semi-arid Great Karoo. It was partially destroyed in a flash flood in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaufort West</span> Place in Western Cape, South Africa

Beaufort West is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is the largest town in the arid Great Karoo region, and is known as the "Capital of the Karoo". It forms part of the Beaufort West Local Municipality, with 34,085 inhabitants in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Town railway station</span> Main railway station of Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town railway station is the main railway station of the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It is located along Adderley and Strand Streets in the city's central business district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middelburg, Eastern Cape</span> Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Middelburg is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, in the Great Karoo. It lies in the Upper Karoo, 1,279 m above sea level, with a population of 19,000. It falls under the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality, in the Chris Hani District Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NASA</span> American space and aeronautics agency

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.

The Near Earth Network provides orbital communications support for near-Earth orbiting customer platforms via various ground stations, operated by NASA and other space agencies. It uses a number of different dishes scattered around the globe. The antennas must be able to move fast for tracking of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). The NEN and SN combined were previously referred to as the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond, South Africa</span> Place in Northern Cape, South Africa

Richmond is a town in the central Karoo region of the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. It is situated on the main N1 route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molteno, South Africa</span> Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Molteno is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Government Railways</span>

The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Touws River (town)</span> Place in Western Cape, South Africa

Touws River is a small railway town of 6,800 people in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located on the river of the same name, about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north-east of Cape Town. The Touwsrivier CPV Solar Project is located just outside of the town and supplies 50 MW to the national electrical grid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeu-Gamka</span> Place in Western Cape, South Africa

Leeu-Gamka is a small town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located 355 kilometres (221 mi) north-east of Cape Town in the Karoo.

Prince Albert Road is a village located in Laingsburg Local Municipality, Western Cape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna 27</span> Planned Russian lunar lander

Luna 27 is a planned lunar lander mission by the Roscosmos with collaboration by the European Space Agency (ESA) to send a lander to the South Pole–Aitken basin, an area on the far side of the Moon. Its objective will be to detect and characterise lunar polar volatiles. The mission is a continuation of the Luna-Glob programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resource Prospector (rover)</span>

Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. The rover was to attempt to detect and map the location of volatiles such as hydrogen, oxygen and lunar water which could foster more affordable and sustainable human exploration to the Moon, Mars, and other Solar System bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commercial Lunar Payload Services</span> NASA program contracting commercial transportation services to the Moon

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region mostly with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts, and performing lunar science to support the Artemis lunar program. CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and the lunar surface using fixed priced contracts. The program was extended to add support for large payloads starting after 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis program</span> NASA program to return humans to the Moon following the Apollo program

The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with three partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The Artemis program intends to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The major components of the program are the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion spacecraft, Lunar Gateway space station and the commercial Human Landing Systems. The program's long-term goal is to establish a permanent base camp on the Moon and facilitate human missions to Mars.

James Douglas Logan was a Scottish-born South African cricket patron, who was one of the founding fathers of cricket in South Africa.

The Roggeveld Wind Power Station is an operational 147 MW (197,000 hp) wind power plant in South Africa. The power station, which began commercial operations in March 2022, was developed and is owned by Building Energy. The energy generated at this wind farm is sold to the South African national electricity utility company Eskom, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Main Place Matjiesfontein". Census 2011.
  2. Royal Colonial Society: Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute. Northumberland Avenue, London. 1898. p.26. "The Railway System of South Africa".
  3. C. Schoeman: The Historical Karoo: Traces of the Past in South Africa's Arid Interior. Penguin Random House South Africa. 2013. ISBN   1770225684
  4. "Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain)". Human Science Research Council. p. 301.
  5. Burman, Jose (1984). Early Railways at the Cape. Cape Town. Human & Rousseau, p.58. ISBN   0-7981-1760-5
  6. "Olive Schreiner Letters Online".
  7. DHOLE, Pradip (6 February 2018). "James Douglas Logan: The "Laird of Matjiesfontein"". Cricket Country. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  8. "Matjiesfontein Village - 9/2/058/0001". South African Heritage Resource Agency. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  9. "Railway Station building, Matjiesfontein - 9/2/058/0002". South African Heritage Resource Agency. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  10. "Matjiesfontein Cemetery - 9/2/058/0004". South African Heritage Resource Agency. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  11. Roelf, Wendell (9 November 2022). "South Africa's new ground station to help NASA track space flights". Reuters. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  12. Deborah Faboade (8 November 2022). "South Africa and NASA Renew Lunar Exploration Partnership". Space in Africa.
  13. http://www.essentialtravelinfo.com/route2.html