The railway line from Durban to the Witwatersrand
Not long after the War of Independence the railway line from Durban to the Witwatersrand was under construction. It was planned to go through Wakkerstroom, but a petition protesting against this was drawn up by the inhabitants of the town.
The ostensible reason for the protest was that the noise from the steam engines would frighten their cattle and hens and cause them to stop giving milk and eggs. The soot from the engines, it was maintained, would also blemish the skins of their wives and daughters. The real reason which no-one cared to admit to was more likely that the town’s economy depended heavily on the transport riders and the wagon trains passing through town. Rail transport was seen as an unwelcome competitor to this.
The outcome of this was that the line was diverted and the present-day town of Volksrust was established as a border town in 1887. When the town fathers realised the magnitude of their mistake they tried to get the line re-routed, but it was too late. As a consolation prize a branch line was constructed from Volksrust via Wakkerstroom and Amersfoort to Bethal. Even here the townsfolk would not allow the line to be built closer than two miles to the town. Today the line has fallen into disuse. The station, down-graded to a siding in the early 1990s, is now a restaurant and caravan park.
This was the first of a series of events that contributed to the downturn in the economic fortunes of Wakkerstroom that were to deteriorate continually for the next 100 years.
The Anglo-Boer South African War (1899-1902)
The Boer forces under Commandant-General Piet Joubert gathered on the banks of the Sand River at Dassieklip – the farm where the young Tom Vinnicombe had stayed some 40 years earlier – before invading Natal.
After the initial Boer victories General Sir Redvers Buller led a British force into the Transvaal and defeated a Boer force at the Battle of Allemansnek. After this battle the Boers, fearing that they would be surrounded, retreated from Laingsnek. Buller occupied both Volksrust and Charlestown. Wakkerstroom itself was not occupied at this stage of the war, although Ossewakop, known at the time as Voortrekkerkop, was occupied by General N. G. Lyttleton and the South Staffordshire Regiment. This lack of overt aggression may have been because Buller had a soft spot for the Wakkerstroom people who had raised a Commando to help the British in the Anglo-Zulu war.
In an effort to restrict the movements and contain the Boers forces during the guerrilla phase of the war the British established several strategically situated lines of blockhouses. These blockhouses were of three basic types:
- stone structures which were single-, double- or multi-storeyed;
- structures with stone bases with corrugated iron upper parts – the so-called Sangar type; and
- wholly corrugated iron structures known as Rice type blockhouses.
More than 9 000 blockhouses connected with over 8 000 km of barbed wire or entanglements were constructed throughout South Africa. More than 130 of these were located between Volksrust and the Swaziland border near Piet Retief. These blockhouses were of the Sangar and Rice types.
Chronological course of events in the conventional phase of the war
as they affected Wakkerstroom and nearby towns
(extracted from a Guide to the Anglo Boer War in the Eastern Transvaal)
| Sept 1899 | – | Approximately 8 000 Boers gather at the Sand River near Volksrust |
| 12/10/1899 | – | Boers invade Natal |
| 14/10/1899 | – | Boers occupy Newcastle for seven months, renaming it Viljoensdorp |
| 16/05/1900 | – | Retreating Boers occupy Laingsnek and damage the Laingsnek railway tunnel to cut the rail link from Natal to Pretoria |
| 28/05/1900 | – | Long Tom cannon placed on top of Mollskop (Pokweni) to deter Buller’s advance |
| 02/06/1900 | – | Generals Sir Redvers Buller and Chris Botha meet at O’Neill’s cottage to negotiate and armistice and possible peace treaty |
| 05/06/1900 | – | Armistice ends and peace talks fail |
| 08/06/1900 | – | Buller defeats Boer forces at the battle of Botha’s Pass and the British enter the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek |
| 11/06/1900 | – | Buller defeats the Boers at the Battle of Allemansnek |
| 12/06/1900 | – | The British occupy Volksrust and Charlestown |
| 13/06/1900 | – | British forces under General N G Lyttleton occupy Ossewakop overlooking Wakkerstroom |
| 21/06/1900 | – | Buller’s force occupies Perdekop |
| 23/06/1900 | – | Buller occupies Standerton |
| 07/08/1900 | – | Buller’s force enters Amersfoort |
| 10/08/1900 | – | Buller reaches Begin-der-lijn bridge on the Vaal River |
| 11/08/1900 | – | British forces under the Earl of Dundonald enter Ermelo |