Overview

This book is a story of success, of the triumph of man over a wilderness; of the triumph of science over disease; of the conversion of a Valley of Death into a paradise. It tells of the shaping of one of the cornerstones of South Africa from a stone which the earlier builders not only rejected, but found an almost insurmountable obstacle. It tells of men and women of all races, principally Boer, Briton and Hollander, toiling against great odds, some for sheer love of adventure, some for wealth or personal advantage, some with a true desire for the common weal; of some who came and shortly went their ways elsewhere; of many who closed their lives here in a twilight of apparently hopeless failure; of some few who lived through the later stages of travail and of hardship to see at last, 'The stubborn thistle bursting into glossy purples, richer than the most voluptuous garden roses'. Each and all of these men and women of the past did their bit, great or small, consciously or unconsciously, with objects of self or of the common good, towards the shaping of the Stone, but the Great Architect could and did combine those individual efforts to the shaping of the things to come; none could foresee how great would be the eventual victory over the inimical forces of Nature, how great would be the use to which future generations would put the generous gifts of Nature in this Region of ours[: the Lowveld]."" -H.S. Webb, first president of the Lowveld Regional Development Association, in his preface to the South-Eastern Transvaal Lowveld published in 1954. 80 b/w illustrations and 1 map

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9780994656117

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David Hilton-Barber, fourth-generation South African of 1820 Settler stock, was born in Grahamstown and holds a BA Honours degree from Rhodes. He trained as a journalist, following in the footsteps of his maternal great-grandfather Frederick York St Leger, founder and first editor of the Cape Times. In his later career as a public relations consultant, he was involved in a wide range of public-relations programmes for the public and private sector, included lecturing and contributing to the compilation of the communications course at the University of South Africa. He served as president of the PR Institute of SA and council member for South Africa on the International Public Relations Association. He is author of Footprints: On the Trail of Those who Shaped the History of Tzaneen, Footprints: Of Those Who Made History in Haenertsburg, The Baronet and the Savage King: The Intriguing Story of the Tati Concessions and Hobson’s Choice: Len Hobson; The Story of a Remarkable Man and is presently researching several other historical projects.

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