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Heilbron | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 27°17′1″S27°58′15″E / 27.28361°S 27.97083°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Free State |
District | Fezile Dabi |
Municipality | Ngwathe |
Established | 1872 [1] |
• Councillor | (ANC) |
Area | |
• Total | 17.7 km2 (6.8 sq mi) |
Elevation | 1,540 m (5,050 ft) |
Population (2011) [2] | |
• Total | 27,407 |
• Density | 1,500/km2 (4,000/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 88.2% |
• Coloured | 5.5% |
• Indian/Asian | 0.3% |
• White | 5.6% |
• Other | 0.3% |
First languages (2011) | |
• Sotho | 74.9% |
• Afrikaans | 12.2% |
• Zulu | 7.2% |
• Xhosa | 1.6% |
• Other | 4.1% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 9650 |
PO box | 9650 |
Area code | +27 (0) 58 |
Website | http://www.heilbron.info/ |
Heilbron is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa which services the cattle, dairy, sorghum, sunflower and maize industries. Raw stock beneficiation occurs in leisure foods, dairy products and stock feeds. It also serves as a dormitory town for the Gauteng metropolis.
Game farming in the district grew to the extent that it is believed that game numbers reached an all-time high, evident in visiting tourist numbers. Due to its close proximity to Gauteng (60 km) the town became ever more popular to weekend tourists and city dwellers in need of a relaxing weekend filled with peace, quiet and fresh air. Popular activities are horse riding, off-road cycling, fishing, game drives, utilizing both motor vehicles and quad bikes, historical tours and affordable sporting facilities.
The neighboring township of Phiritona is home to former Orlando Pirates player Thandani Ntshumayelo, former Mamelodi Sundowns player Ramodiehi "Papi" Mbele and former Free State Stars player Tshiliso Mosikili.
The township boasts one of the oldest black-only High Schools in the Free State, Phiritona High School.
Heilbron is divided into three parts. Heilbron a historically white only area, Sandersville historically Colored only area, and Phiritona a historically black only area. This is symbolic of the settlement patterns that were enforced by the apartheid government.
In 1836, the Voortrekkers fought off the local people of Ndebele Chief Mzilikazi at the Battle of Vegkop near the present town of Heilbron. This historical site boasts a monument and a contemporary museum which are both popular stops for battle field tourists.
Heilbron was officially established in 1873. The town was founded at the site of a perennial natural fountain, thus the name 'Heilbron' (Afrikaans for 'Spring of Bliss'). The fountain is the source of a small stream which runs through the town. Various small groups of people have lived on the banks of the stream for centuries.
A Hester Dorothea PELSTER, a1b2c4d1e1f6g6h4, born 19 November 1891, was baptised in Heilbron on 28 February 1892. She is a descendant of the PELTZER progenitor Abraham PELTZER and his wife Elizabeth VAN DEN BERG. [3]
After Bloemfontein was conquered by the British forces during the Anglo-Boer War (on 13 March 1900), Heilbron was proclaimed as the capital of the independent Boer Republic of the Orange Free State. A few weeks after the fall of Bloemfontein, Heilbron was also occupied, and President Steyn moved the capital to Frankfort, another town in the northern Free State. By 18 May 1900, the Orange Free State was defeated, annexed by Britain and renamed the "Orange River Colony". Many Boer fighters refused to surrender. The area surrounding Heilbron was rife with guerilla activity.
In order to subdue those Boers who continued to fight, the British High Command attempted to cut the guerilla army off from its source of provisions. Boer farms were razed and concentration camps, such as the one in Heilbron, were built to house the Boer women, children and non-combatant labourers who provided support to the Boer fighters. The camps were ill-planned and thousands of Boer civilians died of starvation, disease and exposure. The black population were not spared either. Today the Heilbron concentration camp is used as a private school. A monument to commemorate the victims of the camps can be found in the town cemetery.
During the early years of its history, several Jewish citizens of Heilbron played an important role in developing the town. Many of the streets in Heilbron are thus named after prominent founding Jewish citizens. The old synagogue has been converted into a museum, by the name of "Riemland Museum".
Heilbron railway was first laid in 1899 and connects to the link in Wolwehoek. Later the line was extended to Petrus Steyn and Lindley . The old sandstone building is a provincial heritage site. [4]
The congregation of Heilbron was first established in 1874, it was seceded from Kroonstad. The sandstone building of the Dutch Reformed church was inaugurated in 1885, the cornerstone was laid by President Brand in 1880. On its grounds is a monument to the Heilbron burghers killed in the Anglo-Boer war.
During the Anglo-Boer War Heilbron was for a few days the capital of the Free State. One of the houses was built by a Scottish building contractor for Johan Frederik Weilbach and his wife Catharina Johanna in 1894. During the Anglo-Boer War the house was not burned down as many of the others were. Colonel Delzeal, the commanding officer in Heilbron, had given instruction that Johan's wife and 12 children still lived in the house and that they should not be harmed. Winston Churchill visited the farm Leeuwpoort, which was used as a base for the British officers during the war. The farms are provincial heritage sites. [5]
The Mother and Child Memorial commemorates the 787 Boer women and children who died between 1899 and 1902 in the British concentration camp at Heilbron during the Anglo-Boer War. The large cemetery serves as a stark reminder of the tragedy. [6]
The Battle of Vegkop was fought between the Matebele of Mzilikazi and the Voortrekkers of Hendrik Potgieter just outside the town of Heilbron. On 16 October 1836 about 6 000 Matebele warriors attacked the laager of the Voortrekkers at Vechtkop. A battle ensued and 430 Matebele and two Voortrekkers were killed. [7]
The Riemland Museum is housed in an old Jewish synagogue, which in itself tells the story of the Jewish influence on the history of the town. The museum tells the history of the early hunters in the Riemland, as well as the early pioneers and settlers.
Heilbron has been featured in Dr Leonard Lotzof's autobiographic book Spilt Milk [8] .
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province.
The Boer republics were independent, self-governing republics formed by Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony and their descendants. The founders – variously named Trekboers, Boers and Voortrekkers – settled mainly in the middle, northern, north-eastern and eastern parts of present-day South Africa. Two of the Boer republics achieved international recognition and complete independence: the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The republics did not provide for the separation of church and state, initially allowing only the Dutch Reformed Church, and later also other Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition. The republics came to an end after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, which resulted in British annexation and later incorporation of their lands into the Union of South Africa.
MartinusTheunis Steyn was a South African lawyer, politician, and statesman. He was the sixth and last president of the independent Orange Free State from 1896 to 1902.
Andries Hendrik Potgieter, known as Hendrik Potgieter was a Voortrekker leader. He served as the first head of state of Potchefstroom from 1840 and 1845 and also as the first head of state of Zoutpansberg from 1845 to 1852.
Kroonstad, officially named Maokeng, is the fourth largest town in the Free State and lies two hours' drive on the N1 from Gauteng. It is the second-largest commercial and urban centre in the Northern Free State, and an important railway junction on the main line from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Maokeng is Sesotho and means "place of the thorn trees ".
Irene is a small village on the eastern outskirts of Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa.
Lindley is a small town situated on the banks of the Vals River in the eastern region of the Free State province of South Africa. It was named after an American missionary, Daniel Lindley, who was the first ordained minister to the Voortrekkers in Natal.
Petrus Steyn, is a small farming town between Tweeling and Kroonstad, 35 km north-east of Lindley in the Free State province of South Africa. It is at the centre of an agricultural area known for wheat, maize, sunflower, potato, cattle, hunting, sheep production and forms part of the breadbasket in the Free State. It is the highest town above sea level in the Free State. In 2012 the town's name was changed to Mamafubedu. Farming industries in Mamafubedu provide potatoes worldwide.
Winburg is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa.
The Northern Ndebele people are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. Significant populations of native speakers of the Northern Ndebele language (siNdebele) are found in Zimbabwe and in South Africa.
Thaba 'Nchu, also known as Blesberg, is a town in Free State, South Africa, 63 km east of Bloemfontein and 17 km east of Botshabelo. The population is largely made up of Tswana and Sotho people. The town was settled in December 1833 and officially established in 1873. The town grew larger following the 1913 Natives' Land Act that declared the area a homeland for the Tswana people.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Cape Colony was annexed by the British and officially became their colony in 1815. Britain encouraged settlers to the Cape, and in particular, sponsored the 1820 Settlers to farm in the disputed area between the colony and the Xhosa in what is now the Eastern Cape. The changing image of the Cape from Dutch to British excluded the Dutch farmers in the area, the Boers who in the 1820s started their Great Trek to the northern areas of modern South Africa. This period also marked the rise in power of the Zulu under their king Shaka Zulu. Subsequently, several conflicts arose between the British, Boers and Zulus, which led to the Zulu defeat and the ultimate Boer defeat in the Second Anglo-Boer War. However, the Treaty of Vereeniging established the framework of South African limited independence as the Union of South Africa.
The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to the Pongola River in the north.
AmaNdebele are an ethnic group native to South Africa who speak isiNdebele. They mainly inhabit the provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo, all of which are in the northeast of the country. In academia this ethnic group is referred to as the Southern Ndebele to differentiate it from their relatives the Northern Ndebele people of Limpopo and Northwest.
Norvalspont is a small town in Pixley ka Seme District Municipality in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The name is Afrikaans for Norval’s ferry, and named after an enterprising Scot who constructed a ferry here in 1848. The settlement lies some 40 km east-north-east of Colesberg and 43 km west-north-west of Venterstad, on the southern bank of the Orange River, just below the Gariep Dam.
The Battle of Vegkop, alternatively spelt as Vechtkop, took place on 16 October 1836 near the present day town of Heilbron, Free State, South Africa. After an impi of about 600 Matebele murdered 15 to 17 Afrikaner voortrekkers on the Vaal River, abducting three children, King Mzilikazi ordered another attack. The voortrekkers, under the command of Andries Potgieter, repulsed them, but at the cost of abandoning their livestock.
Queen's Fort Military Museum is a museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa, which depicts all major wars in the Free State from the 1800s. The building was erected in 1848 and put to use for the first time in 1849. Along the years, it has been used as military headquarters, a hospital, an asylum or mental institution, and a prison.
Mogale wa Mogale was a Sotho-Tswana Kgosi of the BaPo ba Mogale in what is now South Africa. Mogale reigned for almost 50 years and through his prowess as both a military leader and strategic diplomat ended local conflicts with neighbouring tribes and established a foothold for the BaPo ba Mogale to thrive. Mogale City Local Municipality in the West Rand District of Gauteng was named after him. The Magaliesberg Mountains, town of Magaliesburg and the Magalies River all bear his name.
A statue of Martinus Theunis Steyn was installed at the University of the Free State, in Bloemfontein, South Africa, until 2020 when it was relocated to the Anglo-Boer War Museum
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