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History of the Helderberg

STORY 47 — The Man from California and the Factory That Built a Town

There is an argument to be made that the single most important economic event in the Helderberg’s modern history was not the founding of Somerset West in 1822 or the opening of Sir Lowry’s Pass ...read more
History of the Helderberg

STORY 46 — The Good Years: And the Dynamite Next Door

Featured image: De Beers or the Dynamite factory (AECI) Ask anyone who grew up in Somerset West in the 1950s or 1960s what it was like and you will hear a particular kind of nostalgia, ...read more
History of the Helderberg

STORY 45— Lwandle: The Sea and the Men

Feature image: Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum The name is beautiful. Lwandle. In Xhosa it means the sea. You can hear the ocean in it. The place it named was not beautiful. Not at first. Not ...read more
History of the Helderberg

STORY 44 — The Map Gets Redrawn: Apartheid Comes to the Helderberg

Not wanting to open old wounds, but it is carved into history and it needs to be mentioned. For those who want to forget it, those who want to cling on it and for those ...read more
History of the Helderberg

STORY 43 — The Slipway: Life at the Naval College, Gordon’s Bay

There is a particular ritual that every officer cadet at the Gordon’s Bay Naval College experienced, usually on a Sunday afternoon around five o’clock, usually within minutes of arriving from a weekend pass in what ...read more

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