Graaff-Reinet (; Xhosa: eRhafu) is a town in the

Eastern Cape Province The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is the oldest town in the province and the fourth oldest town in South Africa, after

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

Simon's Town 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 Simon's Bay in False Bay, on the eastern s ...

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

and

Swellendam Swellendam () is the third oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town and Stellenbosch), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them buildings of Cape D ...

. The town was the centre of a short-lived republic in the late 18th century. The town was a starting point for

Great Trek The Great Trek (, ) was a northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyond the Cape's British colonial adminis ...

groups led by Gerrit Maritz and

Piet Retief Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a '' Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he later assumed command of punitive expeditions during the sixth Xhosa War. He became a s ...

and furnished large numbers of the Voortrekkers in 1835–1842. Graaff-Reinet is home to more national monuments than any other town or city in South Africa. It is also known for being a flourishing market for agricultural produce, noted for its

mohair Mohair (pronounced ) originated from the Arabic word �هيرand it is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat (not Angora wool from the fur of the Angora rabbit). Both durable and resilient, mohair is lustrous with high shee ...

industry, and sheep and

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

farming.

History

Graaff-Reinet was established by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

in 1786, after Cape Town in 1652, Stellenbosch in 1679, Paarl in 1687 and Swellendam in 1745. The town is named after then-governor of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, and his wife. The town was originally established as a trading post to expand trading inland from the Cape Colony. In 1795, the town's burghers, who were annoyed by company taxation, proclaimed themselves to be the independent "Colony of Graaff-Reinet". The burghers then requested guardianship from the government of the Netherlands. Similar action was subsequently taken by the burghers of

. Before the authorities at

could take decisive measures against the rebels, they were compelled to capitulate to the British who had invaded and occupied the Cape. In January 1799, Marthinus Prinsloo, a leader of the 1795 independence movement, rebelled again but surrendered the following April. Prinsloo and nineteen others were imprisoned in the Cape Town castle. After trial, Prinsloo and another commandant were sentenced to death. Other conspirators were sentenced to exile. The sentences were not carried out and the prisoners were released in March 1803, on the retrocession of the Cape to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 1801, there was another revolt in Graaff Reinet, but due to the measures of General Francis Dundas, the acting governor of the

, peace was soon restored. In February 1803, due to the 1802 signing of the

Treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set t ...

, the British returned the Cape Colony to the Netherlands, then named the Batavian Republic. On 13 August 1814 the Cape Colony was formally ceded to Britain by a convention under which Dutch vessels were entitled to resort freely to the Cape of Good Hope for the purposes of refreshment and repairs. Britain agreed on 13 August 1814 to pay five million sterling to the United Netherlands for the Dutch possession at the Cape. The

received a degree of independence in 1872 when "

Responsible Government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

" was declared in South Africa. In 1877, the government of Prime Minister

John Molteno Sir John Charles Molteno (; 5 June 1814 – 1 September 1886) was a politician and businessman who served as the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1872 to 1878. Early life Born in London into a large Anglo-Italian family, Molten ...

began construction of the railway line connecting Graaff-Reinet to

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly 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 Municipal ...

on the coast. This railway was officially opened on 26 August 1879. Graaff Reinet became the centre of British military operations for the Eastern Cape during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. In 1901, a number of captured Boer rebels were tried in the town for crimes ranging from

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

, murder, attempted murder, arson and robbery. Nine were sentenced to death, with eight of these being executed by firing squad on the outskirts of the town, while the ninth sentence was carried out in Colesberg. A monument stands in the town to commemorate these fallen Boers.

Geography

The town lies above sea level and is built on the banks of the Sundays River, which rises a little further north on the southern slopes of the Sneeuberge, and splits into several channels here. The town is home to a number of tourist attractions, including the

Dutch Reformed church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

in the town, which is a prominent stone building with seating to accommodate 1,500 people. The building is influenced by the architecture of

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English architecture, ...

in England. The town is also home to tourist sites such as The Valley of Desolation,

Camdeboo National Park The Camdeboo National Park is located in the Karoo and almost completely surrounds the Eastern Cape town of Graaff-Reinet. It contains the Nqweba Dam. The park is located on the southern foothills of the Sneeuberge, Sneeuberg Mountain ranges ...

and the Reinet House Museum, a

Cape Dutch Cape Dutch, also commonly known as Cape Afrikaners, were a historic socioeconomic class of Afrikaners who lived in the Western Cape during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The terms have been evoked to describe an affluent, educated sect ...

building, formerly the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

parsonage.

Demographics

In the South African National Census of 2011, the population of Graaff-Reinet and the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of uMasizakhe was recorded as 35,672, which included 8,393 households. 62.2% of these residents described themselves as "

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

" an identity that Khoi communities were coerced into accepting, 28.2% as "

Black African Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...

", and 8.7% as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

". The dominant language was

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, which was the

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

of 76.0% of the population. 18.9% spoke Xhosa, and 3.6% spoke English.

Notable people

Great Trek and Boer Republics

Andries Pretorius Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius (27 November 179823 July 1853) was a leader of the Boers who was instrumental in the creation of the South African Republic, as well as the earlier but short-lived Natalia Republic, in present-day South Africa ...

, born Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius (27 November 1798 – 23 July 1853) Great Trek leader after whom Pretoria was named, farmed in the district before the Great Trek. Also instrumental in the creation of the Transvaal Republic. * Andries Hendrik Potgieter, Great Trek leader was born on 19 December 1792 in Graaff-Reinet * Lourens Jacobus Wepener (Louw Wepener) (1812–1865) was born in Graaff-Reinet. He was a commandant in the Orange Free State and was killed in the 2nd Orange Free State–Basuto War while trying to storm the mountain stronghold of Moshoeshoe I, founder of the Basotho nation. He was renowned for his bravery. * Martinus Wessel Pretorius. (1819–1901) Boer soldier and statesman, president of the South African Republic (1857–1871), born in Graaff-Reinet, the son of Andries Pretorius. He succeeded his father as commandant-general in 1853, and was elected president of the South African Republic, and of the Orange Free State (1859–1863). He fought against the British again in 1877, until the independence of the Republic was recognised (1881), then retired. * Gerrit Maritz, Great Trek Leader after whom Pietermaritzburg was partly named was a wagon-maker in the town. * Jan Gerritze Bantjes (1817–1887), explorer, pioneer, scribe and secretary to Andries Pretorius during the Great Trek. * Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff (31 January 1808 – 21 April 1881) was the second president of the Orange Free State, from 1855 to 1859. He was born in Kogmanskloof, Montagu and completed his schooling in Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet where he worked for a further 14 years. *

Thomas François Burgers Thomas François Burgers (15 April 1834 – 9 December 1881) was a South African politician and minister who served as the 4th president of the South African Republic from 1872 to 1877. He was the youngest child of Barend and Elizabeth Burger of ...

(15 April 1834 – 9 December 1881) was the 4th president of the South African Republic from 1871 to 1877. He was the youngest child of Barend and Elizabeth Burger of the farm Langefontein in the Camdeboo district of Graaff Reinet, Cape Colony. * General Nicolaas Jacobus Smit (30 May 1837 – 1896), commander of the Boer forces at the battles of Ingogo and Majuba. Member of the Volksraad (Parliament), he was vice-president of the ZAR in 1887. Prussia made him Knight of the Red Eagle while the Netherlands gave him their highest award as Commander of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

. Portugal also gave him the highest award of their country. Born at Doornbos, Graaff-Reinet district, on 30 May 1837, died in Pretoria 4 April 1896.

Politics

* Daniel François Malan (22 May 1874 – 7 February 1959), D.F. Malan, was a prime minister of South Africa. He is seen as the champion of Afrikaner nationalism, and his government started to legalise apartheid policies. An ordained Dutch Reformed minister in Graaff-Reinet between 1912 and 1915. He is positioned 81st on the Top 100 Great South Africans list. *

Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Order for Meritorious Service, OMSG (5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, ...

(5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a South African political dissident, who founded the Pan Africanist Congress in opposition to the Apartheid regime. Sobukwe was born in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004 Sobukwe was voted 42nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans. *Dr Beyers Naude – anti-apartheid activist matriculated in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004, he was voted 36th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. * Matthew Goniwe (1947–1985) Well known teacher and political activist in South Africa. His political involvement led to his arrest and conviction in 1977 under the Suppression of Communism Act and he was sentenced to four years in prison. He taught at a local school in 1982. On 27 June 1985 Goniwe and three other activists, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli who became known as " The Cradock Four" were killed and mutilated by unnamed members of the Security Forces. * Cameron Dugmore (b. 16 September 1963)—was sworn in as MEC for Education in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

Province on 30 April 2004. He attended the Union Primary School in Graaff Reinet. His father was principal at Union High School. He has been a member of the Western Cape Provincial Executive of the African National Congress since 1993. *Sir Andries Stockenström, 1st Baronet (6 July 1792, Cape Town – 16 March 1864, London) – lived in Graaff-Reinet.

Sciences

Francis Guthrie Francis Guthrie (born 22 January 1831 in London; d. 19 October 1899 in Claremont, Cape Town) was a Cape Colony mathematician and botanist who first posed the Four Colour Problem in 1852. He studied mathematics under Augustus De Morgan, and bo ...

the Four Colour Theorem mathematician and botanist, lived here. * Harry Bolus botanist and founder of the Bolus Herbarium, lived here. * Andrew Geddes Bain (1797 – 20 October 1864), esteemed geologist, road engineer, palaeontologist and explorer. Lived in Graaff-Reinet from 1822 for 13 years and worked as a saddle maker. He helped with the construction of the Ouberg Pass and supervised the construction of the Van Rynevelds Pass. In 1837 he was appointed superintendent of military roads by the Royal Engineers. He built eight mountain passes including Michell's Pass and Bain's Kloof Pass. He can rightly be called the father of South African palaeontology. His first fossil discovery was made in 1838. Famous for a fossil he discovered with a very impressive jaw filled with teeth which he named the "Blinkwater Monster". This fossil was later housed at the British Natural History Museum. * Thomas Charles John Bain (29 September 1830 – 1893) became an even more famous road builder than his father and is the best known of the 19th century road builders. Famous for his 24 mountain passes. He was born in Graaff-Reinet; the second son and seventh child of Andrew Geddes Bain. *Prof

James Leonard Brierley Smith James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyology, ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought t ...

(26 October 1897 – 7 January 1968) was a famous South African ichthyologist who was born in Graaff Reinet. He was the first to identify, in 1938, a captured fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought long extinct. *Dr Sidney Henry Southey Rubidge (31 May 1887 – 1970) Farmer on "Wellwood" Farm in the district. His hobby of fossil collecting became so highly developed that it brought him worldwide recognition for his contribution to science in the field of palaeontology. In 1952 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of the Orange Free State for his work in this field. He built and maintained a fossil museum on "Wellwood". This has come to be recognised as the finest private collection of Karoo fossils in the world. A founder of the Merino Ram Breeders' Association of South Africa and of what today is the National Wool Growers Association of South Africa. *

Johannes Jacobus Brummer Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Y ...

(Joe) was born in Graaff-Reinet on 2 September 1921. He was an economic geologist and one of the most successful mine finders ever. He was responsible for finding copper in Zambia, nickel, copper and zinc deposits in Manitoba as well as zinc and uranium deposits in Saskatchewan. Recipient of the Barlow Gold Medal (CIM) in 1978 and in 1984 the GAC awarded him the Duncan R. Derry medal for his major contributions to economic geology. *Prof James William Kitching (6 February 1922 – 24 December 2003) who grew up in the district was a South African vertebrate palaeontologist and regarded as one of the world's greatest fossil finders. He, together with James (Jim) Collinson, was the first person to identify and collect therapsid fossils in the Antarctic confirming the former continental link between southern Africa and Antarctica. * Aubrey Sheiham (12 September 1936 – 24 November 2015) was a dental epidemiologist and professor at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. * William Smith is South Africa's best-known and most popular television science and mathematics teacher. He matriculated at Union High School in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004, he was voted 86th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. The coelacanth "living fossil" was discovered by Smith's father, Professor James Leonard Brierley Smith, a renowned ichthyologist. * Pierre Terblanche, born in 1956 in Graaff-Reinet, was one of the designers of the Ducati 916. The Ducati 916 is an Italian sports motorcycle manufactured by Ducati from 1993 to 1999. He also worked on the Ducati 888 and the 916. He has been the director of design at Ducati since 1997.

Sports

* Herbert Hayton Castens (23 November 1864 – 18 October 1929), born in the village of Pearston neighbouring the Graaff-Reinet District. He is a former South African rugby union footballer, and cricketer. He was South Africa's first ever rugby and cricket captain. On 30 July 1891 he captained South Africa in their first ever rugby international, against the touring British Isles team. In 1894 a South African cricket tour to England was organised, with Castens appointed as the first-ever South African cricket captain. * Arthur Edward Ochse (born 11 March 1870 in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, died 11 April 1918 in France) He was a South African cricketer who played two Tests for South Africa in 1888–89. Known to his teammates as 'Okey', Ochse held a unique record in South African cricket history for well over one hundred years, being the youngest test cricketer selected for South Africa at 19 years and one day when he took the field for the first test. * Arthur Lennox Ochse (b. 11 October 1899, Graaff-Reinet) Springbok cricketer; Right hand batsman, Right arm fast bowler. Debut: Against England, 3rd Test, Marylebone Cricket Club in South Africa 1927/28 Kingsmead, Durban, South Africa * Louis Babrow (24 April 1915 – 26 January 2004) Famous Springbok rugby player. Babrow's international career was a brief one—just one season with the Springboks, but it was a great enough one for him to be included in the 50 top Springboks of all time in a recent book, The Chosen. The year in which he played was 1937—when the Springboks became the first team to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, a feat not equalled till 1971. During World War II he was awarded a Military Cross for gallantry at the Battle of El Alamein, when he was wounded. After the War, Babrow captained the British Empire XV against the Rest of the World. He attended Sacred Heart Convent in Graaff-Reinet. * Pieter Kuyper Albertyn (PK) (b. 27 May 1897) Dutch Reformed minister in Graaff-Reinet between 1906 and 1921. Springbok rugby captain in 1924. * Clarence Skelton Wimble, a South African cricketer, was born in Graaff-Reinet on 22 April 1861 and died in Johannesburg on 28 January 1930, aged 68. * Louis Davids – Rugby player, South African Federation Rugby Union. * Jano Vermaak – Springbok and Western Province Rugby Player. * Elton Jantjies - Springboks and Lions Rugby Player

Literature and the Arts

* Andrew Murray (jnr) (1828–1917) was a Christian pastor and author who was born in Graaff-Reinet. He was a champion of the South African Revival of 1860. Murray served as the first president of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Fellowship) and authored over 240 books. Over 2 million of his books have been published to date. * Bishop Patrick Monwabisi Matolengwe born (1937-2019) born in Graaff-Reinet Was ordained as the youngest Bishop in the Anglican Church of South Africa. * Helen Elizabeth Martins (23 December 1897 – 8 December 1976) is considered South Africa's foremost outsider artist. She was schooled in Graaff-Reinet, and her " Owl House" is situated in the village of Nieu-Bethesda 50 km away. * Stephanus Le Roux Marais, (1 February 1896 – 25 May 1979) – well-known Afrikaans organist, teacher and composer especially of Afrikaans lieder (art songs), lived in Graaff-Reinet. * Anna Neethling-Pohl (1906–1992), regarded as a legend of Afrikaans theatre, was born in Graaff-Reinet. She performed in more than 50 stage works and lead roles, and translated 7 of Shakespeare's dramas into Afrikaans. She published several novels for which she received the Langenhoven prize in 1926 and the Vaderland prize in 1937. Professor of Drama at Pretoria University. *Hymne Weiss (1910 – 6 October 2001) An author of novels and short stories matriculated at Hoër Volkskool in Graaff-Reinet. Hymne also translated many books from German, Dutch, English, Norwegian and Swedish into Afrikaans and was awarded the Academy Award for the translation of ''

Barabbas According to the New Testament, Barabbas () was a Jewish bandit and rabble-rouser who was imprisoned by the Judaea (Roman province), Roman occupation in Jerusalem, only to be chosen over Jesus by a crowd to be pardoned by Roman governor Pontius ...

'' by Pär Lagerkvist – Swedish (1953): ''Barábas'' Daughter of JF Naudé * Wilhelm Otto Kühne (7 June 1924 – 21 September 1988) journalist, children's book writer and conservationist. Best known for his Huppelkind stories and as columnist at Die Burger. * Dalene Matthee (13 October 1938 – 20 February 2005) was a well-known South African author who studied music at the Holy Cross Convent in Graaff-Reinet. * Etienne van Heerden (1954), a well-known writer, grew up on a

merino The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...

farm in the Graaff-Reinet district. He is the author of novels, short story collections, books of poetry, essays, cabaret collections and a theoretical book on post-modernism. He also is the founding editor of the multi-cultural South-African internet journal, ''LitNet'', and currently teaches at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

. * Madelene Van Aardt (1896–1982) was a composer who was born in Graaff-Reinet. She was among the first musicians to write in the light Afrikaans music genre. * Isobel Dixon (1969) was born in Umtata but raised in Graaff-Reinet. Her father, previously the Dean of Umtata Cathedral, taught at Union High School where Isobel matriculated in 1987. Isobel is the author of two books, ''Weather Eye'' (Carapace 2001) and ''A Fold in the Map'' (UK: Salt 2007; SA: Jacana 2007). ''Weather Eye'' won the unpublished section of the Sanlam Prize in South Africa in 2000 and the Olive Schreiner Prize, administered by the English Academy of South Africa, in 2004.

Economics

* Anton Rupert (4 October 1916 – 18 January 2006) was an Afrikaner-South African entrepreneur, businessman and conservationist. He was born and raised in Graaff-Reinet and was educated in the Hoër Volkskool in Graaff-Reinet. In 2004, he was voted 28th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.

Academics

Christo Viljoen Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific art, site-specific environmental art, environmental art ...

– was born in Graaff-Reinet in 1937 and passed matriculation at the Hoër Volkskool in 1954 as the first Dux student of the newly established high school. Engineer, dean of engineering and vice-rector at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

. Chairman of the

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

Council 1989–1993. Established

Technopark Stellenbosch Techno Park Stellenbosch is a technology focused science park situated on land previously owned by Stellenbosch Municipality, adjoining the farm Kleine Zalze which is located to the south of the town Stellenbosch and adjacent to the Stellenbosch Gol ...

science and technology park in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

1985. Received awards in both the sciences (engineering technology, 2001) and humanities (genealogy, 2014) from the SA Academy for Arts and Science.

Other

* Gert Adendorff (1848-c.1914), soldier with the

Natal Native Contingent The Natal Native Contingent was a large force of auxiliary soldiers in British South Africa, forming a substantial portion of the defence forces of the British colony of Natal. The Contingent saw action during the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. The Nat ...

who fought in the

Battle of Isandlwana The Battle of Isandlwana (alternative spelling: Isandhlwana) on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British invaded the Zulu Kingdom, Zululand ...

and at Rorke's Drift * Sophia Johanna Werner – was born in Graaff-Reinet in 1827. Better known as Black Sophie because of her dark complexion, she was a well-known brothel "madam" in Cape Town and had her premises in Bree Street. * Sylvia Raphael, one of the leading female operatives in Israel's external intelligence agency, the Mossad, was a Graaff-Reinet-born Christian with a Jewish father. Posing as a Canadian photojournalist under the alias "Patricia Roxborough", she was one of the first Mossad agents to penetrate Yasser Arafat's bases in Jordan and Lebanon in the 1960s. She was closely involved in Israel's partially successful attempts to track down the PLO terrorists responsible for the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Coats of arms

Drostdy

In 1804, when the Cape Colony was ruled by the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

, the government assigned armorial seals to each of the drostdyen, i.e. administrative districts. Graaff Reinet was given the arms of its founder, Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, namely a silver shield displaying two black stripes with embattled edges, and a golden canton bearing a double-headed black eagle. An anchor was placed behind the shield.Pama, C. (1965) ''Lions and Virgins''. The British authorities discontinued the drostdy seals in 1814, and replaced them with the royal coat of arms.''Cape Town Gazette'' 418 (15 January 1814).

Municipal (1)

In September 1911, the Graaff Reinet municipal council adopted the Van de Graaff arms, complete with crest (a double-headed black eagle), supporters (two black eagles) and motto (''Dieu mon conduise'').Western Cape Archives : Graaff Reinet Municipal Minutes (22 September 1911).The arms were depicted on
cigarette card
issued in 1931.

Municipal (2)

The coat of arms was re-designed in the 1980s, and registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in May 1979.http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za The arms were now: ''Argent, two bars embattled counter-embattled Gules, on a canton Sable an anchor erect Or'' (i.e. the bars were changed from black to red, and the canton to a gold anchor on a black background). The crest was differenced by placing a golden anchor on the eagle's breast. The supporters and motto remained the same.

Divisional council

The divisional council, i.e. the local authority for the rural areas outside the town, assumed its own coat of arms, had it granted by the provincial administrator in July 1966Cape of Good Hope ''Official Gazette'' 3354 (8 July 1966). and registered it at the Bureau of Heraldry in January 1969. The arms were: ''Argent, on a chevron Vert. a pair of compasses expanded Argent, in base a spade erect Sable, on a chief embattled Sable a merino ram's head caboshed Or''. In layman's terms, a silver shield displaying, from top to bottom, a golden merino ram's head on a black stripe with an embattled edge, a pair of silver compasses on a green chevron, and an upright black spade. The crest was a double-headed black eagle, and the motto was ''Monemus et minimus''.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Populated places in the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality Sundays River Karoo Populated places established in 1786 Populated places established by the Dutch East India Company Former republics