Winterton Museum

The Natal Drakensberg is one of South Africa’s most outstanding attractions, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to its scenic beauty, crisp mountain air and crystal clear waters. Midst in this beautiful area lies the Winterton Museum.

Collections

Blacksmith Shop

Outside the museum building, complete with tools and equipment, e.g. bellows, hearth, anvil, hammers and tongs, steel leg vice, tyre bender, leather apron, blast pipe, chisels, sets and hardies etc.

Weston Caravan

John Weston lived for the greater part of his life on a neighbouring farm. He was born in an ox-wagon near Vryheid in 1873 from a Scottish father wwho was a geologist and an English mother. When he was 7 years old the Weston family moved to Somaliland where old Weston was for 3 years engaged in training the Somalis to fight slave trader Hameb ben Mahommed.

Hollenbach Reading Room:

Mr. Carel Hollenbach donated (loaned?) an outstanding collection of Anglo-Boer War books, a lot of them Africana. If you are planning on a visit to the Battlefields while you’re in the area make use of the reading room to brush up on some facts. Many battlefield guides have used the books.

San Exhibition

Malcolm Pearse, son of Reg Pearse, the well-known author of “Barrier of spears”, was commissioned to photograph all the known rock art left behind by the San. This exhibition consists of these photographs, together with other San artifacts, and have proved a huge success.

Exhibitions

This is a community museum and represents living history, telling the story of people in the area, past and present. Everyone is there. The guys from the early and late stone age, the guys who fled from Shaka’s invading armies during the Mfecane, the first white settlers, the San, the Voortrekkers, the Germans and early English settlers.

Voortrekkers

The Voortrekkers under command of Piet Retief reached the Tugela on 24 November 1837 after they crossed the Drakensberg at Blyde voor uitsicht.

Immediately after they came to a halt in Natal, the first members of a church council, francois Retief and Carel van der Merwe as elders and Christiaan Liebenberg and Roelof Dreyer as deacons, were installed. The induction, as well as the first christening ceremony in Natal, was conducted by Rev. Erasmus Smit on 3 December 1837.

Winterton

The first settlement was laid out on 3 Voortrekker farms (Nooitgedacht, Kerkplaas and Deeldrift) bought by the Natal Government. It was named in honour of the Minister of Agriculture in Natal, Mr. H.D. Winter. The settlement was laid out in plots with “wet” and “dry” blocks on either side of the irrigation furrow. These plots were sold at nominal prices by the Government to soldiers in recognition of their services during the Anglo-Boer War

Henry Daniël Winter grew and finally settled in the Estcourt area where he soon rose to political prominence. His political carreer spanned 34 years. (1893-1927) during which tine he held a number of ministerial appointements. As minister of Agriculture he contributed significally to this region.

Battle of Spionkop and Vaalkrantz

The battle of Spionkop was fought about 38Km west-south-west of Ladysmith on the hilltop of Spioenkop along the Tugela River, Natal from 23-24 January 1900. It was fought between the South African Republic and the Orange Free state on the one hand and British forces during the Second Boer war during the campaign relieve Ladysmith and resulted in a British defeat.

Vaalkrans Hillis located near Skiets Drift, over which the historic Wen Commando crossed the Tugela to do Battle with the Zulus at Blood River on 16 December 1838.

Both these battles are depicted in the museum.

Winterton School

The School “Morea” was established on 1 Aug 1905 with 15 pupils. From 1908 the pupils attended school in the Farmers hall until 1913, when the school was built. Bobbie Heine Miller was a household name in the world of international tennis. In 1927 at 17, she was the first south African woman player ever to be sent abroad. She attended school in Winterton, practising against the wall of her father’s butcher shop.