Barkly West is a town in the
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...
province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, situated on the north bank of the
Vaal River west of
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
.
Establishment and naming
Barkly West was the site of the first major
diamond rush, in 1870, on the South African
Diamond Fields
Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its ...
, and was initially known as ''Klip Drift'' (sometimes written as Klipdrift). This Dutch name means "stony ford" and is a direct translation from a much older
!Kora
ǃOrakobab or ''Khoemana'', also known as Korana, ǃOra, or Griqua, is a moribund Khoe language of South Africa.
Names
"Khoemana" (from ''khoe'' 'person' + ''mana'' 'language') is more commonly known as either Korana (also ǃOrakobab, ǃOra, ...
or
Korana name, ''Ka-aub'' (or ''!a , aub'') - "stony (place along a) river". Briefly the
Klipdrift Diggers' Republic was declared (the town assuming the name Parkerton after President
Stafford Parker), before colonial rule was extended here. It became, with Kimberley, one of the main towns in the Crown Colony of
Griqualand West and was renamed Barkly West (see the article on
New Rush
Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its ...
). Like
Barkly East, the town is named after
Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
and High Commissioner for Southern Africa from 1870 to 1877.
During the
Anglo-Boer War the town was occupied by Boer forces and temporarily went by the name Nieuw Boshof.
Barkly West is sometimes erroneously spelled as "Barkley-West" (even in road signage). In Afrikaans the town is known as Barkly-Wes. The local municipality, post-1994, is called
Dikgatlong, part of the
Frances Baard District Municipality.
Heritage sites
*The Parish Church of
St Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
the Virgin was the first Anglican Church to be built on the Diamond Fields. Sir Henry Barkly laid the foundation stone in February 1871.
*
Canteen Kopje
Canteen Kopje is an archaeological site, formally protected as a grade 2 provincial heritage site, and approved in 2017 for re-grading to national status, situated outside Barkly West in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The place was previously ...
is the site of early diamond diggings which also exposed a major archaeological occurrence of stratified
Acheulean facies, subject to a current collaborative research venture by the
University of Southampton
, mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour
, type = Public research university
, established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...
, the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...
and the
McGregor Museum
The McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa, originally known as the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, is a multidisciplinary museum which serves Kimberley and the Northern Cape, established in 1907.
Overview
Housed at first in a purpos ...
in Kimberley.
*
Barkly West Museum situated in the Toll House at the Barkly Bridge (see next).
*The iron
Barkly Bridge Barkly may refer to :
Places Australia
Northern Territory
* Barkly Tableland, one of the five regions in the Northern Territory
* Barkly Highway, a national highway of both Queensland and Northern Territory
* Electoral division of Barkly, ...
, the first over the Vaal River, was transported in sections from the United Kingdom (by sea, rail and, over the last more than 100 km by ox wagon) and erected across the Vaal in 1885. A steel plate gives details of its manufacture: "
Westwood, Baillie & Co, Engineers and Contractors, London 1884."
Ashley's Adventure Tours: Exploring Barkly West and the Diamond Fields
Shops in Kimberley and Barkly West closed for the occasion when the bridge was opened. A new bridge was built alongside in the 1970s. The toll house erected to recover revenues from those using the old bridge now serves as a museum, opened in 2000.
* The Nooitgedacht Glacial Pavements
The Nooitgedacht Glacial Pavements comprise a geological feature between Kimberley and Barkly West, South Africa, pertaining to the Palaeozoic-age Dwyka Ice Age, or Karoo Ice Age, (some 300 million years ago) where the glacially scoured (smoothed ...
, upstream along the Vaal River between Barkly West and Kimberley, with evidence of the Dwyka glaciation some 300 million years ago. Much later - within the last 1500 years or so - the scoured rocks were used by Later Stone Age people as panels for rock engravings.
Notable residents
*Renowned writer Sarah Gertrude Millin
Sarah Gertrude Millin, née Liebson (19 March 1889 – 6 July 1968), was a South African author.
Biography
Millin was born in Žagarė, Kovno Governorate on 19 March 1889, was one of a family of seven children. Five months later her parents, I ...
grew up at Longlands outside Barkly West and her father opened the first shop in town.
*Cecil Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.
An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...
held the seat of Barkly West in the House of Assembly of Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
until his death in 1902.
*Z.K. Matthews
Zachariah Keodirelang "ZK" Matthews (20 October 1901 – 11 May 1968) was a prominent black academic in South Africa, lecturing at South African Native College (renamed University of Fort Hare in 1955), where many future leaders of the African ...
(1901May 1968), prominent black academic who became a president of the African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
and assisted in the drafting of the Freedom Charter
The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats ...
, was born at Winters Rush outside Barkly West. The new hospital is named after Professor Z.K. Matthews.
* Mphashane Reginald Leeuw, from Barkly West, was instituted and installed as the Dean of Kimberley, 2015.
See also
* Barkly East
*Siege of Kimberley
The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony (present-day South Africa), when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try ...
References
External links
Roger Webster speaks on the Barkly West Museum, the old bridge and other attractions in an interview with Ashley Bristow
{{Authority control
Populated places established in 1869
Populated places in the Dikgatlong Local Municipality
1869 establishments in the Cape Colony