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MATJIESFOTNEIN RAILWAY
STATION – HUMBLE BEGINNINGS OF THE LOGAN EMPIRE
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 n 1884, young immigrant Scot, James Logan, purchased land at "a
place called Matjesfontein", an
insignificant railway halt in the depths of the Karoo. The Cape Government Railways
had, by then, reached the Kimberley diamond fields, and - following Cecil Rhodes' vision of the "road to the
North", his dream of a Cape to Cairo line - was extending into the
Zambezi hinterland. Logan, whose meteoric rise was based on an energetic
and meticulous efficiency, had been awarded the government catering
contract at Touws River, which lies within the
vast spaces of the Karoo.
n those early days,
dining cars were unheard of, and - aware that travellers
needed sustenance on those interminable journeys to the interior - Logan
saw the potential of this remote Matjesfontein
halt. He had already found the Karoo air beneficial for his weak chest;
and, entranced by the lunar majesty of the landscape, resigned his post and
set about creating a village, seemingly in the depths of nowhere, which would
make his fortune and become for many what John
Buchan (remember "Prester John"
and "The 39 Steps"?) would have recognised
as a "Temenos" -
a special place of the spirit.
 ogan purchased the farm Matjesfontein and, with his thoroughly
commercial instincts, three others which possessed plentiful water. He
created what an enthusiast describes as an "Oasis"; planted trees
(inevitably including the ubiquitous pepper) and a garden; built his own
still-surviving residence, Tweedside Lodge; and
established the famous Hotel Milner which was conveniently completed in
1899, and shortly thereafter served as the Headquarters of the Cape Western
Command.
  y early 1899, Matjiesfontein had become a fashionable
watering place, attracting those who could afford to seek relief for chest
complaints in the clear, bright air, entertaining distinguished visitors,
some of whom were more parasite than patron. Lord Randolph Churchill is
still remembered for "borrowing" a hunting dog which he never
returned.
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OLIVE SCHREINER AND
RHODES - FREQUENT VISITS & HEATED DISCUSSION
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Olive Schreiner lived in a
simple cottage here for five years and published the book "Story of
an African Farm", which brought her instant fame and an income to last
her a lifetime. Olive later became one of the first voices of feminism in
South Africa. Today her small three-roomed cottage is a landmark in the
village; Logan, a cricket fanatic, entertained most of the famous early
teams visiting the Colony. Rudyard Kipling, on his first call at the Cape,
made a special journey inland specifically to visit her. During the Boer
War, Matjesfontein supported a base hospital, and
Logan offered five of his villas as convalescent homes for soldiers.
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THE MARIE RAWDON
MUSEUM - CELEBRATING A VICTORIAN AGE of CONTRAPTIONS and INVENTIONS
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Virtually all the British Army commanders - Lord Roberts,
Douglas Haig, after his post as Commander-in-Chief of the BEF in France,
and Edmund Ironside (Chief of the Imperial
General Staff, 1940) - stayed or were entertained in the Village. Edgar Wallace
- ex-trooper, war correspondent, thriller writer - sent his superb
"Unofficial Despatches" from there.
All celebrated in their time and, even now, some are still
remembered.
ut why, a century on,
does this little village still retain its strange magnetism? It lies in
what, to the superficial traveller, must be a
wilderness; so remote, apparently so insignificant. And yet, it retains its
own unique, very civilised
mystique. It is at the very core of this country's history, holding a
personality, an integrity and a sense of the past,
which even the most transitory visitor may perceive, however dimly.
Kipling, celebrating the
romance of the Empire, saw the essence, challenge and romance of southern
Africa. In "The Native Born" (1894), he speaks for those who left
Britain for the perilous experience of the New Dominions:
"To
the home of the floods and the thunder,
To her pale dry healing blue -
To the lift of the great Cape combers,
And the smell of the baked Karoo
To the growl of the sleucing stamp-head -
To the reef and the water-gold,
To the last and the largest Empire,
To
the map that is half unrolled!"
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