Saturday, 1 June on a bright, sunny winter’s morning, a team of Durbanville Heritage Society committee members assisted and supported Duminy Marais, Jaco Maritz and Mike Mungoni in the cleaning of the Centenary monument on Pampoenkraal plain, Durbanville. The monument was vandalised with white paint some time ago and the team used a pressure spray to remove the white paint from the natural stone structure. It took real hard work for quite a long time to remove most of the white paint, which covered one half of the structure.
The outcome after the cleaning is a monument closer to the original. This small monument commemorates the Great Trek. It was unveiled on 2 December 1938 on the plain where the dam on the Pampoenkraal Outspan had been since 1725. The dam, no longer there, was fed by a strong fountain, which is still flowing. This is where pumpkins grew in abundance, hence the original name, Pampoenkraal.
The Heritage Society would like to thank Francois Keet from Sale’s hire who made the high-pressure system available for us to use on the day.
On the photo: Helen Neethling, Lynn van der Merwe, Denise Robinson, Duminy Marais, Mike Mungoni and Jaco Maritz. Photo and article by committee member Georina Westraadt.