Bathurst

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St Johns Anglican Church

In the little village of Bathurst is the St John's Anglican Church. It is the oldest unaltered Anglican church in South Africa and was built in 1834 during the frontier wars. It is surrounded by the most interesting grave stones, some of them dating back and belonging to original British Settlers and their decedents. Because of it's country setting it is also surrounded by a lot of vegetation amongst others some beautiful Bougainvilleas.

8 Comments
16/01/2009
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The Big Pineapple

During my series on The British Settlers is posted about the history of Bathurst here and here. The biggest attraction in Bathurst is not an historic one, but a bit of a gimmick. Bathurst is in the heart of one of the biggest pineapple growing areas in South Africa. The Bathurst Pineapple Growers Association is base on Summerhill Farm on the outskirts of town. Some years ago the farmers from the Association visited Australia on a fact finding mission and…

4 Comments
04/11/2008
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Tractor’s Twilight Years

In my series on the British Settlers I have posted about the village of Bathurst. In the village is the Bathurst Protea Hotel, a real country hotel. In front of the hotel in the long grass I found this old vintage tractor just as the sun was starting to set. It felt appropriate to photograph him in the sunset.

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22/08/2008
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British Settlers – Settling down

After my first British Settlers post Ann had a couple of questions which I will hopefully answer today. The British public was invited to apply to come down to the Cape Colony. Because of the hard times back in England, nearly 100 000 people showed interest out of which 4 500 were selected. The Settlers came in parties and each party was allocated a farm. For this and the seed and implements they had to pay a deposit.Most of the…

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19/08/2008
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British Settlers – The journey

Yesterday I said that I will do a couple of posts about the 1820 British Settlers, so here is part 1. I will keep the info short, because if I have to get my teeth into it, I will go on and on.Before 1820, Port Elizabeth was the eastern end of the Cape Colony. To the east lived the indigenous black people of the area, namely the Xhosa. The colonial government got worried that they may attack the colony and…

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13/08/2008