Durban - Threading a zigzag route from Howick, via the Karkloof, Cramond, New Hanover and Dalton, to Harburg was pleasantly diverse.
Farmlands, against the backdrop of the Karkloof range, gave way to cool areas where the road ran through plantations of pine and wattle; a view of the Albert Falls Dam sparkling blue in the sunshine, was followed by endless fields of sugar cane.
Arriving in Harburg, I made an encounter of the kind always associated with country folk. Brenda Wittig invited me in when I buzzed at her gate asking for directions, and promptly produced a tray of tea, rusks and biscuits.
She then made a phone call to Claus Lütge, suggesting he show me around the small museum they were busy creating.
In January this year, a tornado funnelled through Harburg and surroundings, ripping up ancient trees, destroying roofs and buildings, so there is much repair work to be done. While the Neuenkirchen (church) looking stately on top of a hillock, survived intact, the nearby Harburg Retreat Centre bore the brunt of the storm. The retreat centre was originally the home of the Harburg Primary School, which served the community for more than 100 years. Declining numbers of schoolchildren, sadly, saw its closure in 2005, and in 2006 it was decided to convert the school buildings into a peaceful, country retreat. Visitors learn that in 2011 the Neuenkirchen Congregation, Harburg celebrated 125 years.
The original Harburg Mission was established in Germany in 1849 by a Louis Harms, who had a brig built, on which missionaries sailed to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). For political reasons, Lütge said, they could not land, so continued on to Durban, where they landed in August 1854, then travelled inland to make a new home for themselves.
After seeking permission from Zulu chieftains, they began to set up mission stations, the first being Hermannsburg in 1856, then New Hanover in 1858. Because of the vast distances they had to travel to go to church, 19 families left New Hanover and founded the Kirchdorf congregation.
In 1886, seven of these Harburg families requested that they be given their own pastor, and decided to build a chapel on a piece of land donated by Christoph Küsel.
The new congregation was named “Neuenkirchen” after the town where Küsel’s wife came from; and the town was named Harburg – after the home town in Germany of the wife of the first resident minister to the congregation, Pastor H Wiese.
When in 1896, it was decided to use the chapel as a school, a new church was built.
In 1940, the then Pastor F Garz, was interned because of World War II – he now being regarded as “the enemy”. A special booklet produced for the 125th anniversary, shows the community’s long and chequered history.
The museum, which is located in part of the first general dealer store in Harburg, has an old pedal organ. This was not used in the church, but merely for practice purposes by the organist. Exhibits such as an old contraption for bottling fruit, a cabbage shredder, a 3D Viewmaster, an addressograph, a petrol attendant’s change purse, are all fascinating.
Overstone Cottages, on the Gordon family farm, was the next point of call.
In 1856, Captain Alexander Gordon purchased the farm Aberdour. Two years later, his brother John Herbert Gordon – who was brought up in England before coming to South Africa– bought the adjacent farm, Overstone. A cut stone community hall, corrugated-iron police station with cut stone cell block, and cut stone post room were built on the farm.
Andrew Gordon (a great-grandson) who showed me round the farm, said: “Overstone was the closest farm to the main road, so the post was delivered here, and the farmers came to fetch it.”
While the original house stood near the entrance to the farm, John’s son, John Rose (known as Jack) built another house in 1890, using lime cement. It had no foundations, but its walls were 70cm thick. Part of it is still standing, and has been added on to. There are even some fossils in some of the stones used in the building process. Quarters once occupied by the chauffeur and a domestic adjoin the building, while the remains of the stoep can still be seen. In one of the cottages, the bath is romantically fed by water spouting through the mouth of what looks like King Neptune’s head, while the bathroom doors came from the old police station (built in 1860).
While neither the police station nor the community hall still stand, the old post office has been turned into one of the self-catering cottages. One of the other cottages once housed a school room between 1915 and 1920. A horse stable, built in 1947, burnt down and was rebuilt. As this was done by eye, without a plumb line, it followed a pretty rickety course. The one end of the wall is 45cm higher than the other end. Some of the feeding troughs still stand.
The stable has been added on to, using polystyrene floor, walls and ceilings. Andrew said the temperature remains constant, no matter what the temperature is outside.
The extensive gardens are beautiful. One palm tree is completely covered in thick ivy. “A botanist told us he has never seen such a mature old ivy,” said Andrew, before leaving me to enjoy the garden.
Andrew’s father, Julian, still lives at Overstone, and Andrew and his cousin Cameron (who runs Abendour) are fourth-generation Gordons.
On the way back to Tongaat, I spotted several young Zulu women in traditional attire. Four of them were happy to pose for a photograph, and when I pulled off on to a side road to reload my camera batteries, an African man stopped to enquire if I needed assistance. Ours is still a country of great goodwill.
l Contact Anne at 033 506 1003 or 506 1073 for the Harburg Retreat Centre (which they expect to reopen next month).
l Call Julian at Overstone Cottages at 082 930 4244 (bookings essential). - Sunday Tribune