Sabie, Mpumalanga, South Africa

A study of the different routes that Fitzpatrick and Jock of the bushveld used on the various trails reveals typical aspects of the type of life that was endured by the transport riders.

An edited action version of the the book “Jock of the Bushveld” can be purchased from us at R135.00 plus postage R44.00 within Southern Africa, = R180.00 ($18.00.00 US).

One of the passes that had to be negotiated between the Lowveld and Sabie, was the pass between the present Witklip Dam, and Spitzkop. Fitzpatrick describes it in the Jock book chapter on the Berg.

He says that the Drakensberg stood before them like an impassable barrier, and that the last day of each trip back from the Bushveld was always a day of trial and hardwork for both man and beast. He says further that it was on the Drakensberg that he  saw what a really first class man could do.

If one stands on the edge of the Berg at more or less the point directly above the Witklip Dam and beholds the unfolding beauty and the magnificent view of the valley below, one can see the contour lines which the wagon trails followed from the vicinity of Klipkopje Dam to the bottom of the Berg. It is quite obvious that any attempt at crossing the Berg at that spot, would have been a rather difficult task.

The book says that below the Berg was the last Outspan where the animals were rested, fed and watered, and where the loads were halved, the teams double spanned, and where they pulled themselves together for the final climb.

To those that did not know, there wasn’t much difference between spans of oxen; the driving of them seemed a matter of brute strength and lung. One span looked very much like another. The wierd unearthly calls of the drivers, the cracks  – like rifle shots – of the long lashes, and the hum and thud of the more cruel doubled whip, seem to be all that was needed; but that is not so. Heart, and training in the cattle, as well as skill and judgement in the driver are also needed, for the Berg is a searching test of both man and beast.

Some days were even more of a trial than others, in that portions of loads that were dumped off to ease the pull, dotted the roadside; tangles of disordered maddened spans blocked the way; and fragments of skeys, yokes, “riems” (leather thongs), and broken “disselbooms” (the shaft connected to the wagon next to which the draught oxen were inspanned), told a tale of desperation, frustration, and trouble.

Fitzpatrick commented further on one specific occasion; “Next came “old” Charlie Roberts with his two wagons. He was old to us as he was nearly fifty. He was also stout and in poor health. We buried him in Pilgrim’s Rest a week later”.

Charlie walked slowly up and down the pass to see if he could perhaps get through past the stuck wagons. He got started a little later, making three loads of his two, and went on with single spans of eighteen oxen each, because the other wagons stuck in various places along the climb did not allow him space to work double spans.

To Fitzpatrick’s team it would have been madness to try to attempt the climb with only eighteen oxen inspanned, but when they were already half way up the pass they saw Charlie coming along steadily without any fuss at all.

He had no second driver to help him, and he did no shouting at all. He walked along beside the span, playing the long whip lightly about as he gave the word to go, or called quietly to each individual ox by name, but he did not touch them.

Fitzpatrick’s team was held up with a break in the gear, and were blocking the road way almost completely by the time Charlie reached them. Any one else would have waited, but Charlie pulled out into the side track on the slope below, to pass them. Even the best could have come to grief trying to pass a stuck wagon, but Charlie didn’t turn a hair. He went steadily on, while giving a brisker call, and touching up his oxen here and there with light flicks. The tracks he took were merely scorings made by wagons coming down the mountain. It was so steep and rough there that a pull of more than ten meters between the spells for breaths was all one could hope for; and many were thankfull to have done much less.

There was a hotel at the top of the pass named Nolan’s Hotel. The transporters called it Nolan’s Lekkerlach Hotel. Apparently the wagons were outspanned again, to allow the trek oxen to rest once more before the comparatively easy trek down to Sabie.

Sabie Pass

Another version of the word “Lekkerlach”, is that the farm on which Nolan’s stood was called “Lekkerlach”.

Fitzpatrick comments on the fact that there were usually many wagons waiting to go up the pass most days which points to the fact that travelers must have stayed over when they reached the top of the pass. There must have been plenty of music, booze, laughter, partying, card playing, and carousing. What a party !

We have rcently learned that there was also a race course in the vicinity of Nolan’s Hotel. Some enthusiasts are fossickong about to find whatever can be unearthed nearby.

We have never been able to locate the ruins of Nolan’s hotel An interesting part of “trekking”, is the routine followed by the transporters on a daily basis. The following is a short account from a wagoneer’s diary.

21/11/1885 Stopped all day, (let cattle graze, rest, and get water.)

22/11 /1885 Inspan. 03.00hrs Trek. Dark, heavy clouds, little light.(Traveling at night is easier on the oxen. Not good to trek in rain, as the harness chafes and hurts oxen. Work in heat exhausts the animals. Depending on circumstances, the trek time lasts anything from only 2 hours to no more than 6 hours on average, and sometimes covers only a few kms.) Outspan 08.30hrs. Went fishing, caught 3 small ones. Helped another wagoneer stuck in stream. Big rocks. Bent axle. Inspan 16.00hrs Trek Outspan 18.00hrs. In fog. Saw a few antelope.

23/11/1885 Inspan 03.00hrs. Trek. Stuck in another spruit. Two spans to pull out. Breakfast. More rain. Stopped. Bought bread, black and sour. Rain cleared again 14.00hrs. Inspan 15.00hrs. Trek. Shot buck for the pot. Outspan18.00hrs. Tea time. Facing hills. All quartz and rocks. Wild flowers.

24/11/1885 Inspan 03.00hrs. Trek. Roads rough, stony, hard trek. Outspan 06.00hrs. Inspan 09.00hrs. Road all quartz. Outspan12.00hrs. Dinner. Thunder showers. Doe for the pot. Stayed over.

25/11/1885 Inspan15.00hrs. Trek. Roads a little better. Outspan 01.00hrs. At daylight scouted for mushrooms. I have a touch of dysentery. Sheep farmer passed with a lot of Sheep. Inspan11.00hrs. Cool day. Trek. Came to a river, crossed with 2 spans. Rapid current. 5 feet (1.50m.) deep. Had a swim. Many wagons crossed the river today. Outspan 15.00hrs.

26/11/1885 Inspan 03.00hrs. Trek. Outspan 07.00hrs. in Barberton. Breakfast. Walked down town. Quite busy. Many fine stores. We bought the following:

Refreshments.               2 shillings (0.20 cents.)

Bread                               sixpence (0.05 cents.)

Native                            1 shilling  (0.10 cents.)

Buns                               sixpence  (0.05 cents.)

Lobster      1 shilling and 9 pence  (0.19 cents.)

Unfortunately, one cannot actually reach the exact spot where the wagons crossed the berg before trekking into Sabie. The actual route followed by wagons from Sabie to Pilgrims Rest and Macmac is however fully documented.

The original path used by wagons has been more or less located by previous dedicated adventurers of the original Diggers and Transportriders Association in conjunction with Cecily Nevin the daughter of Fitzpatrick who made work of having waymarks placed wherever the original “Jock of the Bushveld” routes crossed the existing main roads covering the region.

Self Drive and guided tours can be embarked on which enable independent and group tourists to experience some of the adventure that the wagoneers of the earlier days must have had.

More information can be obtained on various facits of this history by leaving comments and requests on the Sabie Blog, or emailing us for all your accommodation requirements.

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Talk to our Dream Merchants about a stunning Jock of the Bushveld, other exciting History tours, Nature, Scenic or General Interest tours through the Escarpment, Lowveld or Bushveld.
Reach us at 013 764 1177

Email us at johnt@tripsza.com

Memorial Site of Wagon Rescue

The Macmac Memorial was constructed to remind future generations of the inhabitants of the Panorama Region as well as discerning tourists exploring the beautiful Panorama Route from Sabie through Pilgrims Rest and Graskop, that they would likely be making acquaintance with a fascinating location where a few important historical pioneering events took place. It is located approx. 18kms from Sabie on the R532 towards Graskop.

Percy Fitzpatrick, who later became a knighted legend in his own lifetime, as an author, politician, farmer and company director, came to seek his fortune on the goldfields of Pilgrims Rest and Macmac as a young buck. He discovered, as so many others did, that most of the available shallow lying gold had already been mined out, and that the vicinity was no longer a shallow Eldorado.

A turning point in his period of extreme hardship occurred at the site of the present Macmac Memorial, which was erected 103 years later by the Lowveld Diggers and Transport Riders Society.

A depressed and penniless Fitzpatrick had left the cabin of an Australian benefactor Teddy Blacklow, halfway down Pilgrims Creek, on a Sunday morning in September of 1884, expecting to reach the Macmac South diggings by sundown.

After surviving a devastating and violent hailstorm, by sheltering under an overhanging  rock on the intervening ridge separating the two valleys, he reached the crest of the Burgher’s Pass, from where he began his long descent to Macmac. When he reached the last rise overlooking the Macmac drift, he was confronted by a frightening spectacle.

A transport wagon was trapped in a raging torrent, which had resulted from the heavy rain caused by the same storm that had caught Fitzpatrick in the hills. The bewildered oxen had been abandoned by the “voorloper”, and the whole rig was already heading aimlessly downstream towards the Macmac Falls.

Without hesitation the sturdy young Fitzpatrick hastened down the wagon track towards the drift, doubtless shedding his few possessions as he ran, before dashing headlong into the turbulent and angry floodwaters, in an effort to reach the “voorloper riem”, which he managed to grasp, and through great exertion was able to direct the team to the river bank, and eventually lead the oxen out thereby saving the whole rig from certain disaster.

The grateful owner and transport rider outspanned at the first level spot, which was where the Memorial is now located. Both men dried themselves off, and settled down to an informal meal. Fitzpatrick felt for the first time on the goldfields, that he had truly earned his keep.

According to Fitzpatrick’s Diary, the transport rider must have introduced him to R. T. M. James who gave him his first job as a counter hand at the “Matit Store”, just behind the ex-McLachlan stone house. J. B. Taylor mentions meeting him there, so raw to his job that he did not even know the price of a bucket of mealie meal. However his natural charm and gift of the gab soon enabled him to strike up friendships with the local diggers and transport riders who frequently visited the store.

One of these was Hugh Lanion Hall of Mataffin fame, whom he met for the first time at the original digger’s camp, which by then had taken on the name of Graskop, after the farm on which it stood.

The pages of his diary which have survived show that he had many friends – George Fullerton, Jim Taylor, Ted Sievwright, Powys, Gibbons (always known as “Gubbins”), Jim Donaldson, Hugh Hall, Ted Blacklaw – those are the names that occur most frequently. Many of them were to remain his friends for the rest of his life. But at that time most of them, with the possible exception of Taylor, were as hard up as he was.

The name Macmac had been transferred to a new southerly camp, which provided living quarters for the diggers employed by the company which was then carrying out organised alluvial digging at the big hole approximately 2km. south of the Memorial.

Interestingly enough, and true to Fitpatrick’s natural sunshine nature, he was not only an author but something of a poet as well. later years when he was odd jobbing around Barberton after he lost his boots, he wrote a clever little poem on the stock in a general dealer’s shop. The poem is featured at the bottom of the article.

FEATURES OF THE MACMAC MEMORIAL

1. A Three Coloured Paved, circular Floor Map 6.6m in diameter, showing the locality within a radius of 1km of the centrally placed wagon wheel, and inlaid with appropriate ceramic name-tiles. The map illustrates the route of the old roads of 1885 in relation to te Macmac River and those of its tributaries closest to the Memorial.

2.  A Toposcope consisting of dark-green place-names inlaid into the brown border of the circular floor, which when sighted over the boss of centrally-placed wagon-wheel indicates the precise direction of the particular place or  topograghical feature.

3.  Seating with backrest constructed with local shale, made around the semicircle to enable visitors to relax while viewing the Memorial and local Macmac scene.

4. A ¾ Size Replica of Australian Edwin Blacklow’s tomb stone with its heart-warming tribute from his fellow diggers has been incorporated into the center of the seating’s back-rest. The original is to be found in the Pilgrim’s Rest’s old cemetery.

5.  A Roll of Honour listing the most prominent digger’s and transport rider’s names has been laid into a convenient quadrant of the floor and also the origin of the name Macmac.

6.  A Moat, Tree-ferns, Local rocks, and a grass verge have been used to embellish the Memorial’s design. The moat defines the outer rim of the Memorial, while retaining the run-off water from the convex floor-map required to irrigate the 8 tree-ferns planted therein. The attractive local rocks have been placed and spaced to enhance the Memorial’s perspective when viewed from the entrance. A suitable grass type provides an attractive and effective ground cover.

7.  A Jock of the Bushveld Waymark in the form of an original bronze “Jock Trek 1885” plaque has been mounted in the topmost of a cairn of rocks to act as a sentinel for the Memorial. The Waymark also proclaims that Jock actually trod the linking road on which the Memorial has been constructed.

THE FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN HE HAS COME !
Come along citizens, come and see
The stock of the famous J.H.P
Every article under the sun
Of guaranteed excellence every one
From a white elephant down to a mouse
All to be had at the Pilgrim’s House.
Take what you like – one or the heap
Retail, wholesale – equally cheap.
Frying pan, saucepan, gridiron, pot,
Good and as cheap as the Lord knows what.
Native gold, bought and sold,
Toys for the young, goods for the old.
Fruit preserves, jellies and jams,
Potted tongues and Limerick hams,
Tea and coffee, sugar and rice
Mustard, pepper, curry and spice,
Pate de foie gras, cafe-au-lait,
Swiss milk of the best as the labels say.
Pipes in quantities, baccy and snuff
All varieties – more than enough.
Ploughs and harrows, scythes and sickles
Worcestershire sauce and Morton’s pickles;
Long-handled shovels, forks and picks
Holloway’s ointment and wonderful pills,
Sarsaparilla and syrup of squills.
Eno’s fruit salts, Rough on Rats,
Paper collars and smasher hats,
Cups and saucers, dishes and plates
Chairs and tables, scuttles and grates.
Flour and mealies, corn and meal
Needles and thread (by skein or reel).
Say what you like, do what you can
Prices to suit the most miserly man.
Coats and waistcoats, breeches and shirts,
Ladies’ arrangements, dresses and skirts
Trousseaux complete from Madam Elise’s
Steel crinolettes and fancy chemises.
Knives and axes, carpenters’ tools
Spirit levels and two-foot rules,
Pigskin saddles, hunting crops
Riding breeches and Wellington tops.
Short and bulky – lanky and slim
Eccentric figures are nothing to him
Slight or stout, dandy or lout,
JHP will fit you all out !

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Take a scintilating Jock of the Bushveld and general History Tour with us through the Escarpment, Lowveld and Bushveld whilst savouring the real magic of some of a transport riders experiences ! Contact us on
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