Whittlesea – A farm, a town, and yet my home.

History

Located in the old Ciskie in the Eastern cape lies a one street town that I grew up in. This town  had been seen by most of its residents as a redundant town that will yield no good to its people, and yet there are people that still live there, including my family.

The town was founded in 1849 as a defense post for the British during the frontier wars in the 1800s. It was named after a Town in England called Whittlesey, the birth place of the then Governor of the Cape Province (1847), Sir Harry Smith.

“In 1828, Harry Smith and his wife came to South Africa where he eventually served as governor of Queen Adelaide province in the Eastern Cape, becoming popular with both Xhosa and Boer in the area. He was moved to India and fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845-46. After victory over the Sikhs at the town of Aliwal, Smith was knighted and became Sir Harry Smith, and he was appointed governor of the Cape in 1847.

The town of Whittlesea was mis-named after Sir Harry Smith's birthplace of Whittlesey in England.” (Directory, 2010)

We arrived

We arrived in Whittlesea in the late 80s during a time of the struggle. As a young boy I remember seeing streets filled with young people hanging around street corners. The streets were filled with the afternoon smoke from the Welcome dovers of the day. Songs, whistles, chants and fights or rather hostility was the order of the day.

I remember my dad used to come back from work, in his SADF uniform, and take off his boots and immediately clean them. Although my memory of that time is not so vivid, I do remember the toy toys vividly, as if they still flash in front of my face. Their chants  “hay’, hay’ hay’” in a rhythm was as thunderous and distructive as the impact as they had on their targets, the impimpis. It was astonishing as well as exciting to see and very much scary and traumatising. 

Back then, toy toys were popular, the APLA and the MK were what our big brothers were talking about. They were talking about the Charles Sebes and the Mnyombolos that were hell bent on bringing disruption to the people of Sada and the greater Ciskie. That time as I remember it, was a scary time as a young boy. They were talking of iimpimpi and punishments that they had to carry out to the iimpimpi to show that they were serious about the struggle.

But that was in 1988, what do I know about 1988, I was born only 4 years earlier. What I do remember remains in me and sometimes unverified because the memory is not so vivid anymore.

What I do know is that we moved from KuNdlambe to eDongwe in 1988, my father a soldier of the SADF and my mother a dark room operator at the Hewu Hospital. She had been working there since 1985, and she works there till this day.

This is not about me and my family history but about the town itself.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Whittlesea (formerly known as Bulhoek) is a settlement situated 37km south of Queenstown, Eastern Cape Province. Whittlesea now lays claim to the first registered wine estate in the Eastern Cape.

The infrastructure include a post office, police station, education college, magistrate's court, two filling stations and numerous retail outlets, not the least the Spar and other supermarkets, also hosting the major bank ATM's.

Hewu Hospital (formerly operated by Lifecare, but provincialized since 2010) is to be found only 4 km on the road to Ekupumeleni Township.

It was founded in 1849 and became a defence outpost in the Frontier War of 1850-1853. Named after Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire, birthplace of Sir Harry Smith (1787-1860), Governor of the Cape Colony from 1847 to 1852.[2] (Whittlesea)

Today the town is proud to say that it’s got its own wine farm, the first wine estate in the eastern cape.

The Harrison Hope Wine Estate

The Eastern Cape's First Wine Estate!" (SAWIS)  Making history and making wine?  Filling barrels and filling hearts?  Stirring musts and stirring minds? Chasing fermentations and chasing dreams?  Toasting barrels and toasting high and holy hopes?  Harrison Hope Wine Estate is the visible and invisible fruit of the pioneering spirits and passionate pursuits of Ronnie and Janet Vehorn. 

After 350 years of wine-making history in South Africa the Vehorns pressed their first Eastern Cape estate wines in February 2009.  From humble plantings in 2006 without development capital or a local history to support their risks, Ronnie and Janet managed to produce their first chardonnay, pinotage, and merlot wines.  The 2009 Estate Merlot established another historical milestone by becoming the first ever estate wine in the Eastern Cape. (Vehorn., 2010)

Whittlesea is not redundant anymore, the town blossoms with development. This is what I have always said, in order for the town to be in prosperity its people need to stand up for it. They need to work the ground and make something of it. For some reason the only time that the town was self sufficent and sustainable was when people were oppressed, now that they are free everything is standing still. We have an iirigation scheme that used to supply the entire district of Hewu and now we depend on other regions and thus things are more expensive.

I, personally am grateful to Ronnie Verhon, of Harrison Hope because he and his family have managed to bring hope for me for this town.

Places you can visit when you go to Whittlesea:

1.    The Waterdown Dam

2.    Bonkolo Dam (Queenstown)

3.    The Masonic Hotel

4.    Simunye Tshisa Nyama

5.    Man’s Place (Queenstown)

6.    Harrison Hope Wine Estate

7.    Or you can just go and explore and meet people of Dongwe, Sada and Tambo Village, they’re not going to give you an experience out of this world, but they will treat you like a human being.

Here’s to Whittlesea, my farm, my town, my home.