Toe die Koning (of Koningin) se troepe oorspronklik uit Brittanje weg is om die Britse...
Upper Karoo Norvalspont History
A flurry of correspondence over the CGR’s mail network and telegraphs during the preceeding days reveals that the residents of Norval’s Pont were nervously anticipating such an attack. The Dutch farmers on the Waschbank had been openly stating around the 28th of September 1899 that should war be declared they would immediately cross the Orange and “shoot any Englishmen they could lay their hands on”, according to one letter addressed by the District Locomotive Foreman at the Norval’s Pont Station, Mr W. Baker, to his boss at nearby Naauwpoort.
He continues “We are not sufficient in numbers to protect ourselves from a Boer Raid. Counting the male portion of British residents belonging to the Cape we only muster 24, not enough, even if armed, to protect life or property, but as it is we are quite defenseless and within gunshot of the Free State border. Under the described condition it is not surprising that married men are thinking of the safety of their wives and children in the immediate future.”
Susan Norval’s thoughts ran even further and she began her own preparations for the expected hostilities: organizing her farm hands at the first sight of activity on the bridge, she arranged to have the under-floor space of the farm’s shearing shed dug out and set about hiding all the family’s valuables, especially including, she says “my best linen, lest it be commandeered for bandaging the Boer wounded”.
As it was, not a shot was fired as the Burgher forces under De La Rey and De Wet stormed through Norvals’ Pont village and no one ever searched for Susan’s best linen under the shearing shed.
Next time: Big Boer trouble for the Brits in Colesberg!
Correction: In a previous item I mentioned that Pontman Piet Roux died of his injuries a few week’s after the loss of his pont and, at the time, believed this to be correct. I now understand that poor old Piet endured a much longer illness and was finally laid to rest in 1933.
Article courtesy of Rod Mann, Owner of the 'Pont, 2005 - 2010
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