MEMORIAL TO HORSES LOST IN WAR

Weston Agricultural College near Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal, recently unveiled a memorial to horses, mules and other animals killed in military service, particularly during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902. The land on which the college stands today, Weston Farm and Weston Common, was the site of the British Army’s Remount Depot from 1899 to 1913. The depot was also used during the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906. Thousands of British Army horses arrived at Weston Remount Depot to be broken in and/or to recover from the weeks-long sea and train journeys that brought them there. The memorial was the idea of the college's farm manager, Warren LOADER, a military history enthusiast, and Jeanine TAIT, the school’s history teacher and museum curator. It is designed in the shape of a horseshoe and mounted by an obelisk-shaped monument created out of old horseshoes found on Weston’s farmlands. The structure is topped off by a bronze statue of a horse made by a Weston old boy, Kim GOODWIN. There is a Wall of Remembrance with plaques commemorating the animals. A box containing some bones of horses buried on Weston Farm was sealed within the Wall of Remembrance.

Port Elizabeth also has a memorial to the horses who died in the Anglo-Boer War, as can be seen in these two photos.

NEW MEMORIAL AT DOORNKLOOF

The Voortrekker Youth Movement recently unveiled a memorial on the farm Doornkloof, to commemorate the 70 years that the movement has owned the historic farm. Doornkloof originally belonged to the Voortrekker leader Sarel CILLIERS. It was sold to the movement by his son, Cor F. CILLIERS for R3 312. The memorial consists of three pillars symbolising the Voortrekker belief - faith, hope and love. At the same time, the 140 year-old Cilliers family Bible, which was in a provincial museum for 37 years, was returned to the farm's museum.