Moorreesburg is a rural town situated about north of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

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 ...

. It was laid out in 1879 on the farm Hooikraal, was administered by a village management board from 1882 and attained municipal status in 1909. Today it falls within the Swartland Local Municipality, which is part of the

West Coast District Municipality The West Coast District Municipality is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC1. Moorreesburg is the seat of the district. As of 2011 it had a total population of 391,766. Geograp ...

. The town is the seat of government for the West Coast District Municipality. Moorreesburg lies just off the N7 national road, at a driving distance of from Cape Town. The R311 regional road also passes through the town, as does the West Coast branch line railway. It has two public primary schools, one public high school, a library, a police station, a magistrate's court, and a health clinic.

History and economy

Moorreesburg was named after J.C. le Febre Moorrees (1807–1885), minister of the

Swartland The Swartland is a region of Western Cape Province that begins some north of Cape Town and consists of the area between the towns of Malmesbury in the south, Darling in the west, Piketberg in the north, Moorreesburg in the middle and the Riebee ...

congregation of the

Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NGK) is a Reformed Christian denomination in South Africa. It also has a presence in neighbouring countries, such as Namibia, Eswatini, and parts of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

from 1833 to 1881. In 1889 a village council was established, by 1909 the settlement was granted that status of a municipality. In 1913 a Carnegie Library was established in the town. The town is an important logistical and processing hub for

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

, two crops that are extensively cultivated in the surrounding area. The importance of the wheat industry to the town is the subject of the Moorreesburg Wheat Museum.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Moorreesburg proper has a population of 7,760 people in 2,578 households. 53% of the population identified themselves as "

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

", while 37% identified as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

" and 10% as "

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

". 88% spoke

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

as their

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

, while 6% spoke

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

and 3% spoke English.

References

{{West Coast District Municipality Populated places established in 1882 Populated places in the Swartland Local Municipality