When Robert Grey, Bishop of Cape Town, set off for the northernmost reaches of the Colony, he was captivated by the Karoo. “There was no time for reading in the wagon,” writes Thelma Gutsche in The Bishop’s Lady. “The arid … Continue reading →

Just as droughts are a feature of the Karoo, so too are floods. some old black and white photographs recently reminded Dr Nathan Finkelstein of the devastating flood that hit Beaufort West 70 years ago on April 13, 1941. The … Continue reading →

A young man who brought light and love to Beaufort West In 1883. He was a Mr Boye and in September, that year he “imported” an electric lamp and had it installed outside his shop.   Dolly dug about in her … Continue reading →

The excitement of a Karoo wedding day is electric. The ‘jolly host’ troops out to welcome each arrival, each new horse or cart, explains BA in the December, 1859, issue of The Cape Monthly Magazine. “All young men are ushered … Continue reading →

To attain the status of married bliss on the frontier it was essential, said BA,  for a young man to observe a few formalities. This young man, who simply called himself BA wrote in the December, 1859 issue of The … Continue reading →

In 1859 a young Swellendam man was invited to a Karoo wedding.  He was not one of those who fell instantly in love with the area. In fact, he called it “unique in its ugliness and wanting in everything to … Continue reading →

Modern communications is not all it’s cracked up to be.   Over a bad cellphone line the name of the man who made the windows of the Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral in Bloemfontein sounded like Leonardus Albertus. ”It is in fact … Continue reading →