Thomas Moodie (29 November 1839 - 30 April 1894) was a pioneer who in 1892 led a party of mostly Afrikaner farmers from the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

to settle in Rhodesia. Moodie, known as "Groot Tom", left

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

on 5 May 1892 with his party, and settled on 4 January 1893, establishing the town of

Melsetter Chimanimani is a town in Zimbabwe. Location Chimanimani is a village located in Manicaland Province, in south-eastern Zimbabwe, close to the border with Mozambique. The village lies about , by road, south of Mutare, the location of the provin ...

, named after the Moodie ancestral home in the Orkney Islands. Thomas Moodie was buried in the Melsetter area. After his death, his wife Cecelia Moodie returned to her relatives in the ZAR where she died in 1905 and was buried on the farm Rietvlei, today known as the

Rietvlei Nature Reserve Rietvlei Nature Reserve, located in southern Pretoria, is about in size, and includes the entirety of the Rietvlei Dam which impounds the Rietvlei River, in Gauteng, South Africa. The reserve is wedged between the R21 highway ( OR Tambo Ai ...

, south of

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

References

1839 births 1894 deaths White Rhodesian people {{Zimbabwe-bio-stub