Millsdale, Millstream and the Mills family.

While waiting for the transfer of the farm to take place we started doing some research into the title deeds of the farms located nearby. It was during this process that we discovered that we would not be the first Mills family to take up residence in the area. 

A portion of the farm Welgevonden, which lies on our Northern border and on a portion of which Millstream is located today, was originally granted to a certain C.A.W Hasselbach on 20th August,1874. The extent of the farm was 3583 Morgen and 286 Square Roods! From the title deed it appears as if in 1910, after the death of Hasselbach, that the farm was then cut into 10 pieces and left to the following people: B Mills, WM Mills, GP Mills, D Mills, JM Mills, WG Mills, GWJ Joubert, JPJ van Vuuren,HJA Potgieter and WFJJ van Zyl.

Today there is still a Mills family residing on Portion 6 of the farm Welgevonden.

The farm Moeilijkheid was owned by the Davel family. Today........................

Dullstroom

The following short history of Dullstroom is an extract from The N4 Book by Peter Delmar and published by Parkview Press. Our gratitude goes to Peter Delmar who kindly gave his permission for us to use his material. If ever you travel the N4 this book makes a very interesting companion. It is highly recommended. Further details are available from Parkview Press

"One of the Highveld’s most popular destinations is the town of Dullstroom, most famous for its trout fishing.  But Dullstroom has an interesting history and many attractions besides fish, plus several claims to fame.  At 2075 m above sea level, it was the highest town in what was the Transvaal – and is one of the coldest in winter. The name derives from Wolterus Dull, a businessman and philanthropist who chaired a committee in Holland formed to raise funds for Transvalers who suffered as a result of the First Anglo-Boer war (1880 – 1881).  After disbursing funds, the committee used its surplus to support Dutch emigration to South Africa, specifically to the area which later bore the chairman’s name.

According to a brochure on Dullstroom (available for a small fee at the local library), in 1887 the Dutch settlers – 48 of them living in eight houses - were “soon discouraged by the eternal mist, everlasting cold and total lack of civilised amenities: no houses, the nearest shop and post office was at Bergendal... the available agriculture land was not as fertile as they had hoped, and there was no market for their produce”.  Worse was to come. During the South African War (11th October 1899 – 31 May 1902) Dullstroom was razed to the ground by its British occupiers, not even the Hervormde Church building (which had previously sheltered refugee Boer women and children) being spared. After the war several of the Dutch settlers and their children packed up and went back to the Netherlands.

Trout were well established when in the colonies of the Cape and Natal when the first concerted efforts were made to introduce them to the Transvaal immediately after the South African War.

In 1903, a farmer near Waterval Boven ordered a batch of fingerlings from a hatchery at King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape. Writer Robert Kirby recounts how, after a long and arduous journey, the consignment arrived at the Waterval Boven station. Those that survived were in a poor state. “A worried station master contacted the consignee by phone. He was told to dump the lot in the local river and forget about them. Two year later, yellowfish anglers on the Elands River reported catches of what they called “strange fish”; the trout had survived and flourished.”

Quite coincidentally, in 1903, exactly the same year as the first trout arrived at Waterval Boven, a British diplomat and administrator, John Buchan, travelled to this part of the world. The young Scot bemoaned the fact that there were no trout or salmon or similar fish to be caught on the Highveld.

“Fishing, I am afraid, has in the past been a neglected sport,” Buchan wrote of his travels. (Later Buchan became a popular author, most famous for his novel, The Thirty-nine Steps). As Sir John Buchan, he served as governor-general of Canada in the 1930s.

In the 1920s, FC Braun, a German watchmaker based in Lydenburg, planted both rainbow and brown trout fingerlings in every river and stream he could find. It is largely thanks to his efforts that trout fishing is now such an important part of the Highveld tourist scene."