David Rawdon, who saved Matjiesfontein
An icon of the Karoo has passed on, but his dreams will never die. David Duncan Rawdon, the man, who loved life, enjoyed Spanish champagne and a good brandy will forever be remembered at his beloved Matjiesfontein. He re-created this village 40 years ago and turned it into the tourist spot that its original owner…
Read MoreOlive Schreiner’s exhilaration in Matjiesfontein
Olive Schreiner loved the Karoo. On March 25, 1890, she wrote to Havelock Ellis saying she was going to put on her hat and “go out for a walk over the Karoo, where such a sense of exhilaration and freedom comes over me.” At the time she was living at Matjiesfontein, where she had “a…
Read MoreStation-Master Joseph Archer creates a winning garden in 1890
At the turn of the last century, Matjiesfontein’s station had a prize winning rock garden of Karoo plants. It repeatedly won the South African Railways prize for the best station garden in the country. Its creator, Joseph Archer, came to the Cape in 1890 and joined the Railways, working as a foreman. He was later…
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