Fish Hoek Valley One Place Study

Location: Fish Hoek, Western Province, South Africa

Contents 1 Location 2 Aim of the Study 3 Highlights 4 History 4.1 Pre-history 4.2 Seventeenth Century 4.3 Eighteenth Century 4.4 Nineteenth Century 4.5 Twentieth Century 5 Sources

Location

This is a One Place Study relating to Fish Hoek Valley, Western Province, South Africa. Fish Hoek Valley is situated in the Cape Peninsula, about 30 kilometres south of Cape Town, in South Africa. It takes its name from the town of Fish Hoek which lies at one end of the valley.

On the north side of the valley are mountains including Chapman's Peak, Spitskop, Silvermine Mountain and Ridge Peak. To the east is Fish Hoek Bay and False Bay. To the south are mountains including Elsie's Peak, Rooikrans and Slangkop, and Chapman's Bay and the Atlantic Ocean are to the west. The valley is 13 kilometres long from west to east and between 3 and 6 kilometres wide from north to south. Map of Fish Hoek Valley

In the 19th century Fish Hoek Valley was largely rural but today it is mainly covered by suburbs and townships including Kommetjie, Ocean View, Noordhoek, Masiphumelele, Capri, Sunnydale, Sun Valley, Fish Hoek and Clovelly. Part of Table Mountain National Park extends into the valley and there are still some areas containing endangered fynbos vegetation types endemic to the Cape Peninsula and found nowhere else in the world.

Panorama of Fish Hoek Valley - 1890ish and 2014

Aim of the Study

This One Place Study is managed by the Fish Hoek Valley Museum and aims to share some of the exhibits, memorabilia and information gathered by the Museum with the wider Fish Hoek Valley diaspora and beyond. The museum is located at 59 Central Circle, Fish Hoek, Cape Town 7975, so if you are in the area pay us a visit.

Fish Hoek Valley Museum

It is a private museum and there is a recommended minimum donation of R10 to cover running costs. If you live in the area consider volunteering. Contact details and opening hours are available on our website https://fishhoekvalleymuseum.co.za/ and up to date news is to be found on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FishHoekValleyMuseum/ This site is a continual work-in-progress, so come back regularly to see what we have added. Below are some highlights and we will gradually be adding in depth information.

Highlights

History

Pre-history

Probably Fish Hoek Valley's greatest claim to fame is 'Fish Hoek Man'. He was discovered by 2 amateur archaeologists, Victor Peers and his son Bertie Peers in 1927. Under a shell midden about one and a half metres deep and several thousand years old, they found the remains of 9 people, including a male aged about 30 years old, together with ostrich eggshell beads, shell pendants, remains of small skin bags possibly containing medicine, pieces of mother of pearl, stone tools and a piece of rusted European iron thought to have been a spear head. The find generated international interest and one of the skulls was sent to London to be examined by a leading anthropologist Sir Arthur Keith who regarded it as the largest brained type of humanity so far discovered. The skull of what became known as Fish Hoek Man was then dated at 15,000 years old but has since been redated at 12,000 years old. In 1941 a ceremony was held at Schildergat Cave and it was renamed Peers Cave in honour of the work of both Victor and Bertie.^[1]

Many millennia ago the Fish Hoek Valley was a sea channel separating 2 islands off the African mainland. The sea receded about 20,000 years ago and the islands became a peninsula connected to the mainland - the Cape Peninsula.

By 10,000 BCE pre-Bushmen people were living in caves in the slopes of the valley. It is the skeletons of these people who were found in Peers Cave. By the first century AD, the Khoisan, a generic name for the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who speak click languages and are pre-Bantu, were living on the slopes of Slangkop. A midden containing limpet, mussel and abalone shells, along with various stone implements, was found there in 1972.

Seventeenth Century

In 1652 the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie VOC) established a settlement at Table Bay, 28 kilometres north of Fish Hoek Valley. In 1659 it is recorded that troops from the company went south in search of Khoisan who had attacked the settlement. In the early 1680s some Dutch settlers explored the mountains on the northern side of the valley looking for silver deposits. The mountain and the river later became known as 'Zilvermyn' or 'Silvermine' and they now form the core of the Silvermine Nature Reserve, part of Table Mountain National Park.

In 1687 Simon van der Stel, the first Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony, explored the area and reported that there was an abundance of wild birds and game and 3 years later he granted whaling and fishing rights at Visch Hoek on the eastern end of the valley.^[2] A community of whalers and fishermen developed there and a building was erected. [Learn More]

Eighteenth Century

In 1743 the Dutch East India Company established Simon's Bay 3 kilometres south of Visch Hoek Bay as a winter anchorage, safer from the constant barrage of winter storms at Table Bay. However it was a far from ideal location with the return trek to Cape Town on foot to source necessary fresh supplies taking 4 days. This led to the cultivation of lands in the Fish Hoek and Noordhoek valleys and the permanent settlement of Fish Hoek Valley began. Baron Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, awarded land grants for 3 farms at the western end of the valley to supply fresh produce to Simon's Bay. They were:

- Slangkop (Snake's Peak)

- de Goede Hoop (Good Hope)

- Poespas Kraal (Hotch-potch kraal)

In 1797, when the colony was under British military occupation, a fourth farm was established, at Visch Hoek, but the lease ended when the lessee died in 1808.[Learn More]

Nineteenth Century

When the Cape became a British colony in 1814, the Royal Navy set up a permanent base in Simon's Town, and the Governor Sir John Cradock designated the southern part of the Peninsula as the Simon's Town magisterial district. The road linking Visch Hoek to Simon's Town was rebuilt in 1815.

Shortly after, two additional farms were established at the valley's eastern end. In 1815, Governor Lord Charles Somerset granted a 112-hectare farm on the slopes of Zilvermyn mountain, aptly named Zilvermyn. In 1818, Somerset bestowed the 1528-hectare Visch Hoek property as a farm, with the stipulation that the owner refrain from selling alcohol.[Learn More] Subsequently, when Visch Hoek was divided in 1827, the 454-hectare segment north of the Zilvermyn river was named Klein Tuin ('small garden') and became a separate farm.

Later, a farm named Brakkloof (or Brakke Kloof) was granted between Visch Hoek and Poespaskraal.

Over time, farm names underwent changes. Slangkop was also known as 'Imhoff's Gift', De Goede Hoop as 'Noordhoek', and Poespaskraal as 'Sunnydale'.

In 1855, a Divisional Council was established to oversee the Cape Division, encompassing rural areas around Cape Town. It managed the valley for 131 years, excluding the period from 1879 to 1888 when the Simon's Town magisterial district functioned as a Division with its own Council.

Another farm emerged in the late 1850s when Slangkop/Imhoff's Gift was divided, and its southeastern part became Ocean View.

By the late 19th century, the south peninsula had become firmly established. The railway line extended from Kalk Bay on the coast, through Visch Hoek to Simon's Town in 1890. When Kalk Bay attained municipality status in 1895, the farm Klein Tuin was encompassed within its boundaries.

Twentieth Century

Similar to the rest of the colony, the Simon's Town district was under martial law between 1901 and 1902 due to the Anglo-Boer War, marking the British invasion of the Boer territories to the North - the Transvaal and Free State.

During this period, the first townships emerged in the valley. In 1900, Kommetje Estates Ltd acquired the Slangkop farm, establishing a seaside village known as Kommetje. Simultaneously, at the opposite end of the valley, G.W. MacIntyre purchased Klein Tuin in 1902, renaming it 'Mayville' and founding a small seaside suburb later renamed 'Clovelly'.

Although Parliament sanctioned a railway line from Visch Hoek to Kommetje, its construction never materialized. Instead, a decade later in 1913, the divisional council constructed Kommetje Road (now route M65), connecting Visch Hoek to Kommetje on the valley's southern side.

In 1913, the Kalk Bay municipality, incorporating Mayville (Clovelly), merged into the City of Cape Town, while the remainder of the valley continued under the Divisional Council's jurisdiction.

During World War I, martial law in the Simon's Town district safeguarded the naval base, leading to travel disruptions in the valley due to military roadblocks. Additionally, in 1916, the German navy cruiser Möwe was sighted in Chapman's Bay, off Slangkop.

After the war Visch Hoek (or 'Fish Hoek') became a township in 1918, growing rapidly with local board being established in 1921 and village management in 1927. The prohibition on liquor sales persisted, making it the country's only 'dry' town.[Learn More]

Part of Noordhoek was designated for residential development in 1920. Improved access to the valley's western end came with the opening of Chapman's Peak Drive (now part of route M6) in 1922, forming part of a scenic motor route around the Peninsula.

In 1922, Cape Estates Ltd acquired the undeveloped portion of Mayville, establishing the Clovelly Country Club.

Fish Hoek gained municipal status in 1940.

World War II saw German submarine activity in Cape waters. A military radar station on Slangkop monitored the ocean, and a camp named 'Cobra' housed personnel. German anti-ship mines washed up at Kommetjie, requiring naval attention.

Post-war, residential development emerged on most of Sunnydale farm.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the divisional council undertook significant valley development, establishing Sun Valley, a White residential township, on Brakkloof farm in the 1960s. They also created a Coloured township on Ocean View farm, accommodating communities relocated from Fish Hoek, Sunnydale, and Simon's Town under apartheid policies. In 1968, the council opened 'Ou Kaapse Weg' ('Old Cape Road') (now route M64) from Sunnydale over Silvermine mountain to Tokai.

The 1970s witnessed the council opening Soetwater caravan park for Coloured holidaymakers and Imhoff caravan park for Whites near Kommetjie. Additionally, the Wildevoëlvlei sewage works opened in 1977.

Capri Village emerged as a residential township in a section of Sunnydale.

The divisional council merged into the Western Cape Regional Services Council in 1986.

In the same year, under apartheid laws, Black residents of Dassenberg were forcefully evicted and resettled at Khayalitsha. They returned to the valley in 1989, establishing a new settlement on part of Sunnydale, later named Masiphumelele ('we will succeed'). Apartheid ended in 1994.

In 1996, the valley joined the new South Peninsula Municipality, leading to the dissolution of Fish Hoek's municipality. Four years later, the South Peninsula Municipality merged into the City of Cape Town, now responsible for valley administration.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ https://gosouth.co.za/peers-cave-and-the-fish-hoek-man/
2. ↑ Jose Burman The False Bay Story 1977
3. ↑ Wikipedia Fish Hoek Valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_Hoek_Valley