Simonstad Museum | |
Established | 1977 |
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Location | The Residency, Court Road, Simon's Town |
Coordinates | 34°11′29″S18°25′39″E / 34.191366°S 18.427567°E |
Type | Community museum |
Curator | Cathy Salter-Jansen |
Public transit access | Simon's Town Railway station |
Nearest car park | Carpark in Court Road, outside the Simon's Town Museum |
Website | Official Website |
Established in 1977, Simon's Town Museum is a community museum situated in Simon's Town, a coastal town in the Western Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa. It is a province-aided museum which receives support from the Government of the Western Cape Province.
The Simon's Town Museum was established in 1977 by a group of enthusiastic volunteers, the MOTHS (War veterans of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats) of the “Snoekie Shellhole” and the Simon's Town Historical Society. [1] At first, the Simon's Town Museum was located in the old Headmaster's house, but its rapid expansion led the board of trustees to look for new premises. They bought and renovated The Residency, an historical building erected by Governor Joachim van Plettenberg in 1777, to serve as the winter residence of the Dutch East India Company Governor at the Cape of Good Hope, when on official business at Simon's Bay. To date, it remains the home of the Simon's Town Museum.
The Simon's Town Museum records and preserves all aspects of the history of the Simon's Town community and portrays the vibrant past of this small, maritime port, whose position on The Cape Sea Route, resulted in a history which is intertwined with that of many nations around the world.
From its earliest days Simon's Town was very cosmopolitan in nature. Consequently, the Museum depicts pre-colonial history, the establishment of the refreshment station at Simon's Bay by the Dutch East India Company in 1743 and the First and Second British Occupations, from 1795 to 1803 and 1806 to 1957 respectively. The Royal Navy established a permanent base at Simon's Town in 1813 and remained for 144 years.
The greatest tragedy to befall the people of Simon's Town, was the Forced Removals under the Group Areas Act by the Apartheid government in 1967. It led to the devastation of the Simon's Town community. One of the Simon's Town Museum's most important undertakings has been Project Phoenix. [2] It was launched in 1996 to record and preserve the history of the former residents of Simon's Town and added much new material to the Museum's collection. Former residents, museum staff and volunteers meet regularly and work together to ensure that the Museum's collections become more representative of the Simon's Town community.
In addition to its exhibitions and projects, Simon's Town Museum undertakes a number of education and outreach programmes and regularly provides activities linked to South Africa's national days.
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District Six is a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. Over 60,000 of its inhabitants were forcibly removed during the 1970s by the apartheid regime.
Simon's Town, sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been a naval base and harbour. The town is named after Simon van der Stel, an early governor of the Cape Colony.
Gqeberha, previously named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa's second-smallest metropolitan municipality by area. It is the sixth-most populous city in South Africa and is the cultural, economic and financial hub of the Eastern Cape.
Muizenberg is a beach-side town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast. It is considered to be the main surfing spot in Cape Town and is currently home to a surfing community, centered on the popular 'Surfer's Corner'.
Wynberg is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead and Kenilworth, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.
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The area known today as Cape Town has no written history before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias in 1488. The German anthropologist Theophilus Hahn recorded that the original name of the area was '||Hui !Gais' – a toponym in the indigenous Khoe language meaning "where clouds gather."
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The CP Nel Museum is a museum in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, which houses exhibits depicting the role of the ostrich trade in the town's history, as well as the cultural history and lifestyle of the people of the Little Karoo region, as it was during the Victorian era and early 20th century.
The Malay Camp in Kimberley, South Africa, was a cosmopolitan suburb which was subject to forced removals prior to the Group Areas Act.
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Pella is an oasis in Namakwa (Bushmanland) in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Earlier known as Cammas Fonteyn, the spring was used by a nearby stronghold of San people. In 1776 a South African Dutch farmer called Coenraad Feijt settled there and lived in harmony with the San despite their fondness for raiding the cattle of the Dutch farmers in the Hantam. A nearby farm called Aggeneys later became the site of the modern mining town of that name.
George Museum is a cultural history museum located in the town of George, Western Cape, South Africa. It preserves the history of the town of George with a special focus on the timber industry. It also houses an art collection. The museum was started by Charles Sayers, in 1967 in a single room in Courtenay Street. The museum is now housed in the building the first magistrate, Adrian van Kervel built as the Drostdy (residency) from 1812 -1815.
The following is a timeline of the history of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
The South African Sendinggestig Museum was established in 1977 and is currently situated in the centre of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. It is a province-aided museum which receives support from the Government of the Western Cape Province.
The Invasion of the Cape Colony, also known as the Battle of Muizenberg, was a British military expedition launched in 1795 against the Dutch Cape Colony at the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch colony at the Cape, established and controlled by the United East India Company in the seventeenth century, was at the time the only viable South African port for ships making the journey from Europe to the European colonies in the East Indies. It therefore held vital strategic importance, although it was otherwise economically insignificant. In the winter of 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars, French troops entered the Dutch Republic, which was reformed into the Batavian Republic.