Hillcrest is a town in the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the

eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality created in 2000, that includes the city of Durban, South Africa and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The majo ...

as a suburb of the Outer West region.

History

Hillcrest was formerly a sleepy village, governed by its own Town Board on the outskirts of

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

that has now become a booming suburb incorporated into the

. ''Hill Crest'' (as the town's name was variously spelt until 1969) was founded on a rise in the main road from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in 1895 as a farming or "weekend" village, then a good distance from what was the emerging port of

Port Natal Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. The village was laid out as leasehold sites on a portion of the farm Albinia owned by William Gillitt, one of the main pioneer families of the area and after which the nearby suburb of

Gillitts Gillitts is a town in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Overview It is about inland from the Durban city centre at an elevation of 1800 feet (600 m ASL). Although Durban is semi-tropical and very humid, Gillitts is above the humidity ...

is named. One of the other early families to set up in the area was the Acutts who had already established the well known in Durban estate agents firm of that name. In 1903 the first school in the village was established in a wood and iron cottage in Hospital Road leased to a Mrs McMillian, the principal of the first Highbury School, by Horace Acutt. When the first Hillcrest Health Committee was established in 1943, the total all-race population was 1135 persons and only the Main Road was hardened. Nkutu Road was hardened with klinker in 1947 and this was followed in 1951 with the hardening of the first portion of Inanda Road. In 1962 blacktopping of selected roads in the central area began, followed by further roads in 1965. By 1971, when Town Board status was obtained, the total population had grown to 2799 persons. The Hillcrest Waste Water Treatment Plant was established in the 1990s, then serving only the central commercial area of the village with phased extensions planned in time, with other areas continuing on septic tanks.

Hillcrest Today

Hillcrest lost its independent Town Board status in 1996 and was made subject to administration by the Outer West Local Council - a substructure council of the then Durban Unicity. In 2000, the Outer West Local Council, along with other local councils, was disestablished and were replaced by the single eThekwini Municipality encompassing the entire Durban metropolitan area. The suburb of Hillcrest experienced a building boom in the late 1990s and 2000s with the construction of many gated communities and shopping centres. Hillcrest View

Geography

Hillcrest is located in the Upper Highway Area, a suburban region located on the M13 highway above

Pinetown Pinetown is a large area that is part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, inland from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Pinetown is situated 16 km west of Durban at an elevation of 1,000 to 1,300 feet (305 to 395 m). History Pi ...

along with the neighbouring suburban areas of

Kloof Kloof is a leafy upper-class town, that includes a smaller area called Everton, located approximately 26 km north-west of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Once an independent municipality, it now forms part of greater Durban area ...

, Everton and

Waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

. It is situated on the M13 and R103 about 30 km north-west of

, 16 km north-west of Pinetown and 52 km south-east of

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

. Hillcrest is bordered by the rural area of Embo to the north, the suburb of Waterfall to the north-east, the suburbs of Gillitts and Everton to the east and the semi-rural area of Assagay and the village of

Botha's Hill Botha's Hill (locally , ) is a small town outside Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It remains a peaceful beautiful hill where regular country style food and craft markets are held. It is the gateway to the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Kea ...

to the west.

Transport

Roads

Hillcrest has access to two major highways, the M13 and the N3 and one regional road, the R103. The M13 ''King Cetshwayo Highway'' is the main highway that traverses past Hillcrest. The highway bypasses Hillcrest to the south and links Hillcrest to the neighbouring suburbs of

and

to the east and further south-east to

, Westville and

and to the N3 highway (to

) to the west. Access to the M13 from Hillcrest can be obtained through the ''Old Main Road'' off-ramp (Exit 28), ''Shongweni Road'' off-ramp (Exit 31) and the ''Kassier Road'' off-ramp (Exit 33). The M13 acts as an alternative route to the tolled N3 highway for motorists heading south-east towards Pinetown and Durban. The N3 highway is a

toll highway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemente ...

that bypasses Hillcrest further south than the M13 therefore it has more of an indirect linkage to Hillcrest than the M13. The N3 links to

in the north-west and

and

in the south-east. Access to the N3 from Hillcrest can be obtained through Kassier Road. The R103 links Hillcrest to

Ladysmith Ladysmith may refer to: * Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa * Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada * Ladysmith, Wisconsin, United States * Ladysmith, New South Wales, Australia * Ladysmith, Virginia, United States * Ladysmith Island, Queenslan ...

in the north-west via

Inchanga Inchanga is a village in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, approximately halfway between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Schools Inchanga has several schools, including Rietvallei Combined School, Siphesihle High School, Inchanga Primary School, Zi ...

, Cato Ridge, Camperdown,

, Howick, Mooi River,

Estcourt Estcourt () is a town in the uThukela District of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The main economic activity is farming with large bacon and processed food factories situated around the town. The N3 freeway passes close to the town, link ...

and Colenso. The R103 is the original N3 and served the same function before the construction of the highway. Similarly to the current N3, the R103 was the main road between Durban and Pietermaritzburg and thus the name of the road being ''Old Main Road''. Other than the M13, Hillcrest has access to other metropolitan routes in the eThekwini metropolitan area including the M33 ''Inanda Road'' linking Hillcrest to Waterfall in the north-east and Kloof in the east and M46 ''Kassier Road'' linking Hillcrest to Assagay in the west and Shongweni and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. ...

in the south-west.

Schools

A public school system is provided in Hillcrest including Hillcrest High School and Hillcrest Primary School, with Winston Park Primary School in nearby Winston Park. Private schools include

Highbury Preparatory School Highbury Preparatory School is a South African private school for boys located in Hillcrest (eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality), KwaZulu-Natal. History Highbury was founded in 1903 by Sibella Douglas McMillan. It was named after Highbury House ...

, Curro: HCA an
Waterfall Schools
with

Kearsney College Kearsney College is a private boarding, English medium high school for boys in Botha's Hill, a small town between the provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. History Kearsney Coll ...

and the

Roseway Waldorf School Roseway Waldorf School is a coeducational privately funded school in Alverstone, near Botha's Hill, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in February 1985. The school now has programs from preschool through high school. The school is based ...

in nearby

and

Alverstone Alverstone is a village 2 miles from the east coast of the Isle of Wight, near Sandown. When Richard Webster became Chief Justice of England in 1900, he chose the title Lord Alverstone because it was the title he was permitted to choose which ...

respectively.

Notable residents

* Dale Benkenstein,

Nashua Dolphins The Hollywoodbets Dolphins are a cricket team representing the KwaZulu-Natal (Coastal) province in South Africa. They take part in the CSA 4-Day Series first-class competition, the Momentum One-Day Cup and the Mzansi Super League T20 compet ...

cricket player * Wayne Fyvie, former

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

and SA national rugby player *

Ian McIntosh Ian McIntosh is a Zimbabwean rugby union coach. He served as head coach for the Springboks during 1993 and 1994. McIntosh grew up near Bulawayo. McIntosh never played for his country as a player but became acquainted with coaching in the 1970s ...

, former Rhodesian,

and SA national rugby coach *

Shaun Pollock Shaun Maclean Pollock OIS (born 16 July 1973) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who was captain in all formats of the game. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and allrounders of all time. A genu ...

, former Dolphins and SA national cricket player and captain *

Terence Parkin Terence Mike Parkin (born 12 April 1980 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) is a swimmer from South Africa, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 200m Breaststroke. Parkin, who is deaf, also competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, as ...

, Olympic medalist * Heather Hamilton,

Miss South Africa Miss South Africa is a national beauty pageant in South Africa that selects South African representatives to compete in two of the Big Four international beauty pageants, Miss World and Miss Universe, and also selects another representativ ...

1999,

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall St ...

top 10 1999,

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss In ...

contestant 2000 *

Megan Coleman Megan Kate Coleman is a South African beauty queen who represented South Africa in Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico and Miss World 2007 in China. She was Miss South Africa Miss South Africa is a national beauty pageant in South Africa th ...

2006,

2007,

contestant 2007 * Harold 'Tiger' Wright, South African Champion Jockey * Sir Liege Hulett, Founder of Kearsney College, founder of Hulett's Sugar.Tongaat Hulletts history * Horace Smethurst, Springbok Soccer Captain, Australia New Zealand Tour 1947, soccer player

References

Sources

*''Lest We Forget'' - The Story of Hillcrest 1895 - 1995, Elizabeth Camp, *''Hillcrest Gillitts Activity Corridor Local Development Plan'' - Outer West Local Council, 2000 *''The Highway Mail'', 1 June 2011. *''The Hilltop'', 2 June 2011. *''Independent Electoral Commission (South Africa)'', 9 June 2011. {{Authority control Populated places in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Populated places established in 1896