2015 Free State Reminiscence

This being fifty years since I left school I wanted to attend the annual Grey College Reunie. As my mother had also passed away recently, I also needed to go to Welkom in order to make some arrangements for the interment of her ashes. Edith kindly agreed to accompany me and so we set off for Welkom on Wednesday, 14 October. The visit there went well and we managed to locate both my dad and my sister's graves in the local cemetery without too much trouble. We found the cemetery in good condition and were entertained by several ground squirrel while we were there. Before leaving Welkom we drove past my folk's house and we were amazed by the extent to which it had been modified. The extensions can be seen quite clearly in the Google Earth view of the area.

Leaving Welkom we headed for Mazelspoort, a resort adjacent to a large weir on the Modder River some 16 km outside of Bloemfontein. We headed there as we would be staying in the resort during our visit to Bloemfontein, and because my father (Robert Hardie [Bob]) grew up there. In fact he lived on the property as his father (George Hardie) was the resident Mechanical Engineer responsible for the water purification works and pumping station that provided water to Bloemfontein. The house is still there and Edith and I were able to spend some time wandering about it. It is obviously a sturdy structure as it has been used to stable horse for the past ten plus years. Its condition is such that it could be restored and would once again provide some family with a superb homestead.

The other reason for staying at Mazelspoort was to try and locate my grandfather's grave. I had previously corresponded with the Bloemfontein Municipality, and had been reassured that there were no Dempsters buried there. While that seemed highly unlikely as I had an uncle and aunt you lived there, we accepted the outcome. More recently we thought that he might just have been buried at Mazelspoort and so we made enquiries and got quite excited when we learned that there was a graveyard of sorts on the opposite side of the river.

So on the Thursday Edith and I set off to walk out of the resort and downstream of the river in order to cross it at the drift below the weir. Once across the river we headed upstream along a farm road peering into the bush as we went to find a graveyard. As we were about to give up and return to our bungalow, we spotted what looked like headstones. So we headed into the scrub bush and that is exactly what we found. However it turned out to be a cemetery that was established and used by the local black folk during the 1900's. Once more as we were about to give up, Edith spotted a grave some distance from the graveyard. This turned out to be a memorial to two young men who drowned in the Modder River during the construction of the weir in 1904.

My hopes somewhat dashed, we returned to our bungalow to conclude what had otherwise been a pleasant walk. Along the way we spotted an impressive farm building that we later learned was a barn on the farm that belonged to the Steyn family. One of the Steyn's was a president of the Boer Orange Freestate Republic. As we walked out we were also entertained by a herd of cattle that were emphasising vocally and loudly with cow that had managed to end up on the wrong side of the fence. When we were returning we met up with the farmer who entertained us with some stories, one being how the cattle started their chorus when they see his bakkie (light truck or ute) approaching and in the anticipation of him delivering salt licks to them.

On the Friday morning I headed for school and spent an enjoyable morning attending assembly, having a Coke and a doughnut at the tuck shop, reminiscing with old friends, and wondering around the school. During one of the conversations I mention that I was also in Bloemfontein to search for my grandfather's grave. Later on after having returned to Mazelspoort, Edith and I headed back to Bloemfontein as she wanted to visit Outdoor Wharehouse, a retailer yet to arrive in our hometown, Pietermaritzburg.

While we were driving my phone rang and much to my surprise it was one of the guys I had spoken to about my grandfather at my school reunion earlier during the day. He had gone home and made some enquiries and had establish that my grandfather, uncle and aunt were indeed buried in Bloemfontein. My grandfather's grave was located in an obviously old cemetery not far from the store we were heading to. So after Edith had done her shopping we headed to the cemetery, drove in and parked somewhere in the middle. After chatting to a fellow searcher, Edith and I headed off in different directions not knowing where to actually start our searches.

After about 45 minutes we had moved towards each other again probably thinking it was time to call the search off. By that time I was in an area that did seem to have quite a few graves that matched the year my grandfather passed away. So we resolved to spend a little longer looking. Just as I was about to suggest we leave, I thought I spotted a George. It was actually quite a surreal moment and it was also the real thing. I was looking at his gravestone. Quite remarkable, and needles to say, very moving.

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03bobsgrave347.jpg *	04groundsquirrel.jpg *	06shirleysgrave.jpg *	09welkomtuiste.jpg *
12welkomhome.jpg *	15georgemartha.jpg *	18georgemarthakids.jpg *	21mazelspoorthouse.jpg *
24mazelspoorthouse.jpg *	27mazelspoortweir.jpg *	30modder.jpg *	36calf.jpg *
39calves.jpg	42drift.jpg *	45damwall.jpg	48methodist.jpg *
51constructionmemorial.jpg *	54observatoryhill.jpg *	57steynbarn.jpg *	60thomasleithstreet8.jpg *
63memorium.jpg *	66georgesgrave.jpg *	69georgesheadstone.jpg	72georgeandbill.jpg *
99bloemfonteinsewestekant.jpg *