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

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

, about 75 km (46.6 mi) from

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, 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 A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

. The Darling Museum showcases the history of the town and the Darling

creamery A creamery or cheese factory 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 ...

which was established in 1899 by two Swedish 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. 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 grassroots 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, South Africa, Malmesbury in the south, Darling, Western Cape, Darling in the west, Piketberg in the ...

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 are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

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 The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

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 to Darling with

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

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