Wakkerstroom, as it is now known was originally named Marthinus Wesselstroom in 1859 by the founder Swart Dirk Uys, who’s grave can be visited in the historic part of the cemetery. It was one of the oldest towns of the old Transvaal.
Wakkerstroom was strategically occupied by the British in the Anglo Zulu, and both Anglo Boer wars, with the NG Kerk and the being used as a fort prior to the fort being moved to a hilltop out of town. One can visit this site, see the views from there, and imagine the fighting in the distance. Wakkerstroom did not see much action during these wars but was close enough to the main battles in the first war, to hear the gunfire. Nearby there was the battle of Majuba where the Boers defeated the British, battles of Schuinshoogte and Laingsnek, the signing of the peace treaty at O’Neils Cottage, and the site where the Boers laid down their arms at the end of the war. These sites can still be visited today.
During a small skirmish in the Wakkerstroom area, Private James Osborne managed to ride 200 to 300 yards in front of a line of some 40 Boers and dragged Private Mayes onto his horse, after his leg was hurt, and the two of them rode through gunfire to safety with bullets flying around them. Private Osborne was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery. A Memorial to Private Osborne, and to the 18 soldiers who died in the first Anglo Boer war can be seen in the historic cemetery. The position where the action took
place can be seen.
Memorials to the fallen members of the English and the local commando, and to Ds DP Ackerman, the first full time minister at the NG Kerk, can be found in the church grounds. In 1901, a memorial to the North-Staffordshire regiment, in the shape of a Staffordshire knot, made from rocks, was placed on the mountain behind the town by the regiment, and can still be seen today.
To commemorate the centenary of the Great Trek in 1938, the Culture Society of South Africa decided on a symbolic trek through the country, covering the same routes that the Voortrekkers took. For this, the Wakkerstroom towns folk, directed by the headmaster of the school, Mr Vecuil, added an ox wagon memorial above the knot, so that it was visible as the trek drove over the nek, into Wakkerstroom. A line of 100 block houses was positioned between Wakkerstroom and Derby, near the Swaziland border, and another 21 were built between Wakkerstroom and Volksrust in the 1900’s. These were built over a distance of 141km, and manned by some 1524 troops. Very little of these block houses remain today.
Many of the towns Afrikaans inhabitants, being in the Wakkerstroom commando fought on the frontlines in the second Anglo Boer war. Woman and children were captured and taken to the concentration camps, many to close-by Volksrust, where there is a memorial in the town square in memory of the 700+ brave ladies and children, who died there .
Marthinus Wesselstroom was a large bustling town in the centre of the North-Eastern Transvaal, and a hive of shopping and church activities. Over the years, a number of important political, military and literary people who made their mark in South African history travelled to the town. These include Mahatma Ghandi, who fought for the rights of one of the Indian shop owners in Wakkerstroom, Hoosen Amod. General Piet Joubert, who had a farm in the area, and who’s mausoleum on the family farm, can be visited by appointment.
President Paul Kruger, after whom the metal bridge over the wetland, one of the last imported from the UK, was named. Paul Kruger bridge is one of 3 buildings with National monument status that can be seen as you wonder around Wakkerstroom. There are many other beautiful, well-restored buildings. In 2000, graduate students from the University of KZN Architectural department listed just under 30 properties which could be classed as B and C status heritage buildings, dating from 1860 to 1907.
Reverend Daniel Bryant, and Pieter L le Roux baptised the first Zionists (now arguably the biggest religious group in the country) in the Wakkerstroom river on 24 May 1904, next to the Paul Kruger bridge.
There was also Austin Roberts, the ornithologist who wrote ‘the Roberts Birds of South Africa’ which is still widely used as the birding ‘bible’ in South Africa. Austin’s father was a priest at St Mark’s church (another of the buildings with National monument status).
Hans Justus Thode made a huge contribution to SA’s rich knowledge of Drakensberg flora while he was a tutor from 1920 to 1924. Besides the thirteen plant species being named after him (Todei, Stilbaceae, Todeana), of special mention must be the Dietes Altemooi, named after the farm, where he resided at the time.
And then there was Dr Pixley ka Seme, the founder of the ANC, to whom there is a memorial, near Daggakraal, the town which he was involved in establishing.