Darling is a small town in a farming area on the west coast region of 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 ...

, about 75 km (46.6 mi) from

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 ...

. At the beginning of the 18th century about 29 farmers lived in an area called Groenkloof and on one of these farms, Langfontein, Darling was founded in 1853. It was named after Sir Charles Henry Darling who came in 1851 to the Cape as Lieutenant Governor. The Darling Museum shows the history of the town and the Darling

creamery A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream re ...

which was established in 1899 by two

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

settlers, Nils Georg Moller and G. Threnstrom, and was closed in 1950. The museum also holds a collection of large agricultural machines. Darling is famous for its wildflowers and since 1917 the annual Darling Wildflower show is held by the Darling Wildflower Society, founded in 1915 by Mrs. Suzanne Malan and Mr. Frederick Duckitt of Waylands. The Darling Wind Farm is situated between Darling and the coastal town of

Yzerfontein Yzerfontein, or Ysterfontein, is a small harbour town with about 1200 inhabitants on the west coast of South Africa about 90 km north of Cape Town. The name in Afrikaans means "Iron Fountain".The town started out when the farm 'Yzerfontein' ...

and it is operational with plans for expansion. The South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys performs many of his shows as Evita Bezuidenhout at ''Evita se Perron'', a cabaret venue and restaurant in Darling. The adjacent arts and crafts market has been taken over in 2006 by the Darling Trust, a charitable organisation which addresses the problems of impoverished communities in the area through the establishment of

grassroot A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

s projects. In 1998 the first private school opened its doors in 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 ...

area, Darling College, which is close to the entrance of the town on the

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

side. In 2006, the city launched the Darling Music Experience with the aim to organise small concerts in a rural setting for both classical and more popular music. The festival offers chamber music, popular choir works and jazz. A young local composer is commissioned every year to write a piece for the festival.

Darling's role in World War 2

By 1942 German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

activity off the South African coast was at its peak. In an effort to provide greater security to the Naval convoys plying the sea route the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

hastily constructed or supplemented existing facilities at six additional airfields around the coast.Route 27 West Coast South Africa
/ref> The first SAAF flying unit to be based at Darling was 23 Squadron, arriving on the airfield at the beginning of 1943. From here the Ventura aircraft patrolled the western sea approaches to

at the height of the submarine menace. The unit was strengthened by the arrival of a Ventura detachment from 27 Squadron between February and April 1943. In November 1943 the Venturas of 29 Operational Training Unit (OTU) were relocated from

Nigel Nigel ( ) is an English language, English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walte ...

to Darling with

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

training forming a large part of their brief. On 31 January 1944 construction began on an iron

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

at Darling to ease maintenance problems experienced in the hitherto basic conditions. Temporary buildings were hastily completed and lecture rooms were erected alongside administrative buildings. On 12 April 1944 Ventura 6457 of 27 Squadron crashed into Dassenberg near Darling shortly after taking off on a training flight killing the crew of six. On 12 April 1988 the wreckage was discovered and airlifted off the hill for transport to the

South African Air Force Museum The South African Air Force Museum houses exhibits and restores material related to the history of the South African Air Force. The museum is divided into three locations, AFB Swartkop outside Pretoria, AFB Ysterplaat in Cape Town and at the Port ...

Use of Darling’s airfield gradually tapered off after the war as

AFB Langebaanweg AFB Langebaanweg Data current as of October 2006. is an airbase of the South African Air Force (SAAF). The base motto is ''Tenax Propisiti Vinco – Through Tenacity Comes Success''. Units hosted * Central Flying School SAAF - Pilot and Inst ...

became the epicentre of SAAF operations on the West Coast.

Gallery

Image:Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve-P9210008.jpg, Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve Image:Senecio arenarius-P9210022.jpg, Felicia tenella, Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve Image:Ornithogalum_thyrsoides-P9210023.jpg, Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve Image:Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve-P9210024.jpg, Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve

References

External links

Evita se Perron TheatrePieter-Dirk UysThe Darling TrustWhat's on in DarlingDarling MuseumDarling TourismDarling Wildflower SocietyDarling Life News & Events BlogDarling Wind Power
{{West Coast District Municipality Populated places established in 1851 Populated places in the Swartland Local Municipality 1851 establishments in the Cape Colony