Text: Leilani Basson. Photography: Jannie Herbst
Source: This article is taken from the October 2011 issue of Leisure Wheels.
On the R71, between Johannesburg and Tzaneen, an unimpressive road sign announces “Haenertsburg” to the right. The turn-off itself is not exactly inviting and possibly the reason for many travellers just driving past. Dodgy garage. FoodZone. Bottle store. One would never expect that just a few hundred metres on – on the other side of the hill-there exists a perfect little world untainted by modern-day evils.
Haenertsburg is full of oddities. Lovingly referred to as “The Mountain” by its handful of inhabitants, the town is only 620m higher than the northern Lowveld. What started as a gold mining village that was expected to morph into the second Johannesburg is one of the country’s smallest, quaintest and most underrated dorpies.
You’ll find predominantly English-speaking people here. And outside of the town, plantation owners are also English-speaking.
The Boere back in the old days couldn’t imagine a more ludicrous thing than farming with trees, and they moved on to places better suited to sheep and mealie farming. “Nee, magtag man, mens boer mos nie met bome nie,” is a quote from one such farmer that often comes up in conversation about the forestry in the area. But the English remained to watch their wood grow. Fifteen years on, they were laughing all the way to the bank.
The original draw to Haenertsburg was the discovery of gold in the 1880s. It was expected that Haenertsburg – and not Johannesburg – would be the city of gold.
Authorities expected a huge demand for stands and surveyed 908 erven of 50 x 50 Cape Feet (just big enough for a large tent).
For a while the mines in the vicinity prospered, but the “big strike” never came. Word reached Haenertsburg that the gold reefs on the Witwatersrand were much richer and before long, there was an exodus of diggers.
It was only after the Anglo Boer War, when the gold fields around Haenertsburg were deproclaimed and farms were made available to new settlers, that people slowly started filtering back.
The best way of describing Haenertsburg is to compare it to a model train village or diorama, minus the train, of course. Everything seems to have been artistically and faultlessly arranged according to scale. The flawless trees line up perfectly, the quaint little houses all share the same view, the perfect plantations are “painted” a slightly darker green than the pastures, and the streets are unrealistically neat and narrow. Small groups of typical diorama people are strategically dotted around town: a few in the park, a few outside the bookstore and in front of the Pennefather Goldmining Company, a perfect little family is pushing a pram
Not much has changed since then, apart from the minuscule stands being increased to 30 x 30 metres – incorporating four of the original tent-sized erven. There are 178 houses with no more than 400 residents.
When you drive through the town, it is obvious that the surveyor was not very imaginative in coming up with street names for its mainly English-language community – Kerk Street, Kantoor Street, Plein Street, Kort Street, End Street and even Finaal Street.
There is nothing haphazard about Haenertsburg. New business owners honour the style and period of the era in which it came into existence. Great effort goes into period-styled architecture, preserving the old-worldly feel of “The Mountain” and keeping the unspoken promise – of never allowing modern structures to surface – alive!
The Pennefather Goldmining Company (named after a mining concern in the heydays of Haenertsburg) is a perfect example of this. It belongs to Linda Wilkinson. When she bought a string of neighbouring shops in 2005, she approached local historian Louis Changuion to help her do it right. They studied buildings of that period in Kimberley and Pilgrims Rest, along with many old photographs. Today, The Pennefather is a true reflection of what the town looked like in 1887, when Haenertsburg was founded.
The Pennefather – a kind of complex comprising various businesses – is the social hub of the town. It sets the scene, and mood, for all that is to be discovered during a visit to Haenertsburg.
The bookshop, “Memory holds the door”, and the two shops selling antiques and unusual accessories, “New found out” and “Never Despair” – are also names of mining companies. Coffee and cake is served either on the cobblestone patio in front of the shops or on the bookshop’s charming stoep.
Linda also built six perfectly replicated self-catering cottages on the premises. The cottages are named after prominent men who played a role in shaping the town, including Ferdinand Haenert himself.
Sought-after antiques and items from yesteryear decorate the stoep and shop fronts all the way down to the cottages.
“We never take anything in at night,” says Linda. She’s a beautiful woman with a husky voice and a presence not often encountered. Marlene Dietrich comes to mind.
“None of the shops here locks anything away. We’ve never had a problem. We even give the keys of our shops to visitors who want to shop after hours or search for a specific book in the bookshop.
We leave the fireplace burning, and let them be.
“We also help each other’s customers when any of us has to step out for a while. Annemari across the street has a sign up that says that things taken from her veranda should be paid for in my shop. It happens all the time.”
The mountain people of Haenertsburg are different. Very different. “We have picnics in the graveyard at full moon, a dog as our mayor, a time capsule in one of the parks and Scottish royalty running the local pub,” Linda continues. “We have artists, writers, authors and many other interesting people here.”
An elderly gentleman pops in. Everyone knows each other. He came by just to share a few thoughts on the rugby game the night before. As the only All Black supporter in town, he gets a lot of flak, but takes it on the chin.
A modern-day Alm-Oui then emerges from his silver Jeep Cherokee. Those familiar with the animated TV series, Heidi, from the 1980s, will agree that he looks just like Heidi’s grandfather. The plantations and mountains in the background add to the impression.
“This is Louis – the historian and author who helped me make this dream a reality,” says Linda.
Louis Changuion has penned 18 books – mostly historical recollections and research books funded by universities. He came to Haenertsburg for a research project 30 years ago and never left. He knows the town and its history like no other and has explored every inch of the forest behind the town.
The hiking route that he worked out is a highlight for hikers and climbers who visit the area.
Louis laughs about the monthly graveyard sessions in the full moon. “Those people have the best view over the town,” he says. “The full moon rising is an astonishing sight. The picnics have been going on for yonks. There’s nothing weird or sinister about them.”
A visit to the graveyard captures the tranquillity and peace the picnic-makers experience. It is a beautiful place, with well-preserved tombstones dating from the 1800s. It has a fairy-tale quality, with the beautifully kept and manicured gardens bringing the diorama comparison to the fore again.
In Haenertsburg, everyone works together to keep The Mountain in pristine condition.
“We have a committee, and we do a lot of things ourselves here.”
With Louis’ help, the Haenertsburg Local Area Committee erected a monument to record the history of the many wars that affected the people of The Mountain, from 1888 to 1989. As a symbol of peace, it pays homage to the women, children and men who died during the wars. Pieces of a blown-up Long Tom cannon form the main focus of the monument.
“Two of the four Creusot Boer Guns or cannons, referred to as Long Toms, were destroyed near Haenertsburg during the Anglo Boer War,” explains Louis. “The Long Toms gave the Boers a huge advantage, since they had a longer range than any British guns.
“The cannons were becoming cumbersome, so the Boers changed their tactics to guerrilla warfare and blew up their cannons for fear that they would end up in British hands.
“On their way to Pietersburg, General Ben Viljoen’s commando demolished one of the guns on 18 October 1900 and dumped it in the Letaba River.
“The last of the Long Toms was blown up by the Boers at Rondebult on 30 April 1901, after failing to stop the British advance to Haenertsburg.”
Louis managed to excavate the pieces after finding them with a metal detector. He wrote a fascinating book on the Long Toms, of which there were only four in South Africa. The book is titled Silencing of the guns.
Something that is kept mum in Haenertsburg is that the Duke and Duchess of Athol live here. John Murray, although knowing that there was/had been royalty in their family many generations ago, never really thought anything of it. He was just an average Joe, with a normal life and normal children.
A few years ago he was contacted from Scotland with the news that he had inherited the title of Duke of Athol. The previous duke had no sons and John was next in line.
“My father doesn’t like the attention much,” his daughter, Lady Jennifer, laughs. Jennifer and her husband own the local pub. She, too, doesn’t make much of their status. “Daddy refuses to stay there permanently, so he forfeits the perks that come with title. He loves it here. So he only stays in his castle three months of the year, to take care of his official duties. The rest of the time he is just another resident of Haenertsburg who drives a 1400 Nissan bakkie and lives a simple life.”
Jenny, as everyone knows her, said that her Dad always wanted to own a Land Rover. “Since this one dream was not going to come true, we had a sticker made for his bakkie with “The Duke’s Land Rover” on it.
A more recent resident in Haenertsburg is Irma Strydom, an artist specialising in super-realism. Irma’s paintings are amazingly life-like – even more so than the photographs she works from. With her dog, Rocky, at her feet in her rondawel-studio, Irma achieves her personal goals, brush-stroke by brush-stroke. She is gorgeous. A Venus in blue jeans… with paint smudges on the right knee.
Irma’s art career started in high school when she did portrait studies for pocket money. At the age of 16 she was already teaching art. Irma has studied under artists like the late Mary Marsecano, Wimsy van Wyk, Marianne Weymouth and the reclusive Gordon Legg.
She paints in both watercolours and oils. Her technique has drawn attention to her watercolour paintings, because of its distinctive style.
“For the past 15 years I have just been painting and learning from the masters. I would pester them to take me in as an apprentice until they let me.
“This year, the Year of the Cat, is the first year in which I am earning an income from my paintings. Previously, I’ve made a living from teaching.”
Irma’s work is in big demand. Tito Mboweni, former Governor of the Reserve Bank, is a regular buyer.
Back at The Pennefather, Linda tells us about the town’s time capsule. “In 2000 we decided to create a time capsule that would be opened in 2100. All of the residents contributed to the contents.”
A sort of monument was built in one of the parks, with a chest inside. Once everything was in, the chest was sealed in concrete, and the community says it must only opened in 100 years’ time.
Linda recalls the day it was closed. “Louis made the announcement when they were ready to close it. ‘Last chance everyone,’ he said. Then, very unexpectedly, one of the most respectable ladies of The Mountain took off her bra and flung it into the chest. In a hundred years time, I bet no one will believe what that was once used for!”
The mountain people from Haenertsburg are different. Very, very different.
| More info on the quaint town of Haenertsburg | More info on the Capricorn area |
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