The History of Wellington

"Call it Wellington. it is a disgrace that in this colony no town bears that name." Thus spoke Sir George Napier, governor of the Cape, when in 1840 he was asked to select a name for a new settlement int he Berg River valley, 13km north of Paarl.

When the French Huguenot refugees of 1688 were settled in these parts, the region was known as Limiet , 'limit' valley, the perimeter of Western civilisation in the colony. For some unknown reason the French called the area Val du Charron, which was literally translated to Wagenmakersvallei 'cartwrights' valley. Wagon building did become an important industry in the valleyafter the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1869, but this petered out with the coming of the motor car.

By 1838 there were enough farmers in the area to warrant a church and commerical centre. The Huguenot farm Champagne was bought for this purpose and the town was duly proclaimed as Wellington, after the hero of Waterloo, on 26 March 1840.

The new town's development received a fillip with the opening of Bain's Kloof Pass to Tulbagh valley and beyond in 1853. Ten years later the town became the first terminus of the first major railway line in the country, that from Cape Town to the interior. Land for the station was donated by the owner of the farm Versailles with the proviso that trains should always stop there.

In the latter half of the 19th century Wellington grew into one of the most important educational and religious centres in the colony. Much of the credit for this goes to the Revd Andrew Murray, Dutch Reformed minister at Wellington from 1871 to 1906. With two teachers, Miss Abbey Ferguson and Miss Anna Bliss from Mount Holyoke College in the United States, the Revd Murray opened the Huguenot Seminary in 1874.

From this grew a number of institutions, including the oldest teachers training college in South Africa (1896), and the Huguenot College which became a university college in 1916. The university college was closed down in 1950 and the premises transferred to the Huguenot College of the Dutch Reformed Church which trains mission and social workers there.

The 451km square district of Wellington claims to be the hub of the South African fruit grwoing industry, especially apricots. Certainly, it is the headquarters of the dried fruit industry and in early summer, particularly in the Bovlei area east of the town, one comes upon a sea of wooden frames on which bright orange apricot halves have been arranged to dry.

Three co-operative wine cellars operate in the district.

* There are many fine examples of Cape Dutch architecture in the town and district. The oldest specimen in town is Twistniet, 'don't quarrel', built in 1811, now a national monument and long mistaken for the original homestead of the farm Champagne on which the town was developed. Among the best examples on farms are Versailles, Leeuwenvallei, De Twyfeling, De Fortuin, Rhebokskloof and Groenfontein, Lelienfontein and Welvanpas in the Bovlei area.

* Several well-known South Africans other than the Revd Andrew Murray are associated with Wellington. Piet Retief, Voortrekker leader in Natal, was born in the district. So were General JBM Hertzog, prime minister of the Union of South Africa (1924-39), the Revd ML de Villiers who in May 1919 composed the music for Die Stem, one of South Africa's national anthems, and Afrikaans poet and dramatist Adam Small.

* The town is home to the largest piano manufacturing concern in the country. It was also he location of the first washing and processing plant for karakul fur.

* The Revd Andrew Murray is comemorated by a seated statue in front of the Dutch Reformed church. His house Clairvaux opposite the town hall has been restored.

* Wellington Museum is a cultural history museum with comprehensive exhibits going back as far as the Stone Age and including a collection of Egyptian antiques.

* The blockhouse on the banks of the Berg River on the farm Versailles north of the town is the southernmost of such forts built by the British during the Anglo-Boer War to protect important railways or bridges against Boer raiders.