Black & White Sunday: Traces of the Past Y4-04

Tulbagh, named after Dutch Cape Colony Governor Ryk Tulbagh, is a town located in the “Land van Waveren” mountain basin (also known as the Tulbagh basin), the Winelands of the Western Cape, South Africa. The basin is fringed on three sides by mountains, and is drained by the Klein Berg river and its tributaries. The nearest towns are Ons Rust and Gouda beyond the Nuwekloof Pass, Wolseley some 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the south inside the basin, and Ceres and Prince Alfred Hamlet beyond Michell’s Pass in the Warm Bokkeveld.

In September 1969 the Boland area was hit by an earthquake that caused considerable damage to the town of Tulbagh. Many of the Church Street buildings were destroyed. The extent of the damage was huge: many fine gables had either tumbled or were totally destroyed, whole sections of many houses had collapsed, most of the soft brick walls had burst open in wide cracks, plaster had been torn by off in large sheets, rafters and roofs had caved in. Everything appeared to be in total and irreparable ruin.

After the disaster in Church Street extensive projects of restoration began with the National Committee for the Restoration of Historic Buildings in Tulbagh and its Environment.

Because of this work Tulbagh now contains possibly the largest number of Cape-Dutch, Edwardian and Victorian provincial heritage sites in one street in South Africa, and remains a major tourist attraction of the town to the present day. The work started by the committee has been continued to the present day by various residents of Tulbagh, but also significantly by the Tulbagh Valley Heritage Foundation which aims to restore and maintain “all structures older than 60 years, the cultural landscape and undeveloped properties connected to the historical structures. Wikipedia