Newcastle is the third-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and is the province's industrial center. Located at approximately 1,194 meters (3,917 feet) above sea level, Newcastle is situated in the northwest corner of KwaZulu-Natal at the foothills of the northern Drakensberg mountains.
Map showing the location of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa
Early History and Inhabitants
Africa is as old as the Dinosaurs, but one certain historical fact about Northern KwaZulu-Natal’s ancient past is that during the 18th century, the only inhabitants were the bushmen, the amaZizi and the amaHlubi. The bushmen were skilled hunters who also lived off roots and plants. The amaZizi and amaHlubi were pastoralists: they knew how to cultivate millet and melons and also understood the art of iron smelting.
During the 16th and 17th Centuries, the warlike Nguni people migrated south. From one of these groups came the amaZulu, descendants of a young man ironically called Zulu (heaven) by his mother. By 1818, several clans had established themselves in the area and, led by Dingiswayo and Shaka, a series of savage civil wars broke out, ending only when Shaka had established himself as leader of all the Zulu.
European Settlement and Conflict
During the 1500s and 1600s, the Dutch settlers arrived in the Cape, while the Portuguese pushed into Africa from their settlements on the East and West coasts. By the early 1800s, large numbers of European settlers, tired of the Napoleonic wars and the religious upheavals in Europe, were arriving in Southern Africa. One such group, led by Piet Retief, had heard of the beautiful lands of Natal from hunters and traders operating out of the small trading post of Port Natal. These Voortrekkers crossed over the Drakensberg mountains and sought to settle in Natal with tragic consequences.
Read also: Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority
Retief and some 80 of his men who went to the Zulu King Dingaan to seek permission to settle were brutally murdered, and their families set upon by the Zulu. Matters finally came to a head on the 16th of December 1838 when the Zulu army attacked a Voortrekker Commando on the banks of the Ncome River with disastrous results. The Zulu Army was decimated, and the water in the river ran red with their blood. Dingaan was forced to flee, and his half-brother Mpande was enthroned by the Trekkers.
During the years 1849-1851, some 5000 odd British settlers arrived in the colony, settling the Buffalo Border region and up into Northern Natal. The Colony was suddenly transformed. Permanent structures were built, land was fenced off, and wagon roads were carved out. With roads came the Post Chaise, and regular stops sprang up to service the travelers. One such stop was Post Halt II on the banks of the Ncandu River.
The Founding of Newcastle
Newcastle (then Post Halt Number 2) was strategically situated in 1854 by the Surveyor-General of the Natal Colony, Dr. P.C. Sutherland, on the banks of the flooded Ncandu River. In 1854 a Dr Sutherland, who was to become the Surveyor General of the Colony, found himself and his new wife, trapped by the swollen river. So for the next two weeks he spent his time setting out the township that he was later to register as Newcastle after the then Secretary for the Colonies.
The town was later known as the Waterfall River Township because of the Ncandu River. On 14 October 1899, during the Anglo-Boer War, Newcastle was invaded by Boer forces, and the entire district was incorporated into the Transvaal Republic. After seven months it was renamed Viljoensdorp, after the commander of the Johannesburg Commando, General Ben Viljoen. With the re-occupation by General Buller of the British forces the name was reverted back to Newcastle.
Military History and Fort Amiel
In 1876, with the threat of trouble from the new Zulu Kingdom of Cetshwayo and the pending annexation of the Transvaal by the British, the colonial authorities decided to establish a fort at Newcastle. Major Amiel and some 200 men of the 80th Staffordshire Regiment arrived in Newcastle and built the Fort now known as Fort Amiel on the high ground overlooking the drift. The fort has been rebuilt and serves as a museum.
Read also: Discover Thula Thula
By 1878, Cetshwayo had recreated the amaButho system of Shaka and could raise an army of 50,000 men. Many of whom who had never had an opportunity to “wash their spears in the blood of their enemies” and claim wives. On the 12th of January, three British columns crossed into Zululand. The Central Column led by General Lord Chelmsford crossed at Rorke’s Drift. With him were the men of the Newcastle Mounted Rifles. Then came Isandlwana. Wednesday, 22nd January, the Zulu Army defending their country, wiped out the British camp at Isandlwana slaughtering some 1400 Imperial troops and native levies. In that fatal hour and a half “half the women of Newcastle became widows”. Chelmsford was forced to retreat to Natal. Panic spread through the colony, and towns were rapidly fortified. In Newcastle, the present armoury became the central laager of the townsfolk.
Then in 1880, the Burghers of the Transvaal, dissatisfied with British occupation of their country and the lack of response by the British to their appeals for the return of their country, finally took matters into their own hands. A British column moving from Lydenburg to Pretoria was stopped in its tracks at Bronkhorst Spruit, and the British garrisons in the Transvaal were invested. General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, Governor of Natal and commander of British Forces in South Africa, scrambled a scratch force of some 2500 men and marched to Newcastle then on to the Transvaal, but on 28th January 188, at Laing’s Nek, he was confronted by a force of Burghers under Commandant General Piet Joubert. Colley’s force was repulsed with heavy losses.
Newcastle was the military and hospital base for the British; and after hostilities had ceased, the Peace Convention was signed at O’Neill’s Cottage at the foot of Amajuba on 23rd March 1881 by Boer and British leaders including Paul Kruger, Piet Joubert, and Sir Evelyn Wood.
Fort Amiel, a historical landmark in Newcastle
Development and Growth
Wagon builders, wheelwrights, and other artificers prospered and were soon followed by millers and weavers. A tailor, haberdasher, and a jeweler opened shop. The increase in traffic and demand for improved transport soon brought the railway, and on 15th May 1890, the first passenger train arrived in Newcastle to be followed some 2 months latter by goods trains. By 7th April 1891, the railway had been extended through Laing’s Nek to Charlestown. In 1891 the Town was declared a Borough.
Read also: Traditional South African Bread
The advent of the War brought all development to a halt. On 14th October 1899, the first Boer Forces led by General Ben Viljoen entered the town, renaming the town Viljoensdorp. During their occupation, the Russian-Boer Ambulance Unit set up a military hospital in the Convent Buildings. Because of its strategic position and the possibility of its attack by roving Boer Commandos, the British were forced to place the town under martial law for the duration of the war. However, the presence of military forces also helped to increase the social life of the town with musical concerts, balls, and performances by military bands.
Education and Infrastructure
The first record of any educational work in Newcastle dates back to 1874 when a small school committee was formed, and a school opened in the Dutch Reformed Church building in Lennoxton, but the school only lasted until 1878. In 1881, renewed efforts were made to establish a permanent Government School. The site chosen was that where the Junior Primary School stands today. In 1904 it was decided to build a new Boys’ School and a new site was chosen “far out of town,” and the new buildings were opened on 4th February 1907. Although this was met with some opposition from parents, the boys’ and girls’ Schools were integrated and divided into junior and high schools, both being co-educational.
By 1910, many problems with regard to public amenities had been sorted out. A dam had been constructed on the Ncandu River, a waterworks established, and electricity was being made available. Bridges were built across the Jordan Spruit, and the tree planting program begun in 1898 completed.
Industrial Development
Between 1920 and 1926, the first blast furnace to be erected in South Africa had been completed; the project was acquired by Union Steel Corporation (SA). By 1937, African Metals had purchased the Newcastle Works, and by 1945, a second blast furnace was operating. With the depression came hardship, and one of the government projects to alleviate the lack of work was the re-routing of the railway line from Newcastle to Charlestown in order to do away with the “reverses” at Ingogo that caused such much delay and limited the traffic load. This new line involved the construction of a number of long tunnels, work that was largely carried out by manual labor, and a little town of corrugated iron buildings sprung up near the present Ingogo village.
As a result of the increased steel production, a period of expansion came to the town. This expansion was of great financial benefit. Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, the growth was steady but slow. In May 1969, the government announced that the third Iscor Works would be established in Newcastle, and as a direct result of Iscor, Newcastle developed rapidly as an industrial town and prominent growth point in Northern Natal. Later Karbochem established a plant in Newcastle, and a vigorous marketing campaign by the municipality attracted a wealth of investment from the far East.
Newcastle has the largest concentration of commerce and industry in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The city has four industrial areas, namely Riverside Industrial, Airport Industrial, Madadeni Industrial Estate, and Arcelor Mittal Newcastle Works. Arcelor Mittal steelworks, the Natal Portland Cement (NPC) slagment cement plant, the LANXESS Chrome Chemical Plant and the Karbochem synthetic rubber plant, which covers 500,000 square metres (5,381,955 square feet) manufacturing space dominate the Newcastle industrial area. In 2011 Independent Power South Africa (IPSA) converted the old Ngagane Power Station into the Newcastle Cogeneration Plant, an 18 MW gas fired powerstation that provides a dedicated power supply to the Karbochem chrome chemical plant which was completed during 2002. This joint venture project between Karbochem and German speciality chemical manufacturing giant LANXESS has made Newcastle the largest producer of chrome chemicals in Africa.
@VelileLifestyleDecorTV Travel Guide South Africa : Garden Court Black Rock Newcastle
Modern Newcastle
Newcastle has changed names on numerous occasions during the country's historic rule. It was initially named Post Halt Number 2 on military maps during the 1840s, as postal coaches stopped here to obtain fresh horses on the journey between Durban (then Port Natal in Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) and Johannesburg. It was later known as the Waterfall River Township because of the Ncandu River. Newcastle was named after the British Colonial Secretary, the fifth Duke of Newcastle, a British aristocrat, and not the city in England as some believe.
Today, Newcastle is the main commercial and industrial center in northern KwaZulu-Natal, and is the province's third-largest city. The municipality is making efforts for the city to become sustainable by 2030.
The city has a temperate climate and is classified under the country's 'Cold Interior'. Temperatures in Newcastle often drop below freezing during the winter months, with snowfall often experienced at least twice a decade. Zulus form the largest single ethnic group. Since the mid-1980s, the city has seen an influx of Chinese citizens. The approximately 200 Chinese-owned businesses have contributed to Newcastle's textile and plastic manufacturing industries.
Newcastle lies on the main passenger and goods railway line between Johannesburg and Durban. Newcastle has one airport which is located approximately 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) south-east of the city centre, south of the city's railway station. The annual Vodacom Winter Festival aka 'Newcastle Show' provides a platform for South African bands and singers, and attracts visitors from the entire region.
Religious and Cultural Landmarks
Newcastle has all of the major religious organizations represented; churches, temples, and mosques can be found throughout the city. Landmarks include the NG Kerk on York Street, and the Hindu Shiva Temple on Kirkland Street.
Sports and Recreation
Newcastle remains a venue for major sports competitions and conferences because of the facilities the city has to offer. Newcastle has numerous multi-purpose stadia around the city, which are mostly used to host local sport competitions, school sports and inter-school sports; these accommodate soccer, cricket, rugby, squash, tennis, and volleyball.
Established in 1975, Ntshingwayo Dam (previously Chelmsford Dam) is the third-largest in the province. Located approximately 25 km (16 mi) South West of Newcastle on the Ngagane River, Ntshingwayo Dam is Newcastle's main source of water supply. The surrounding reserve covers an area of 6,500 ha. The 1,500 ha Game Park has a range of highveld game and bird viewing is common. The park also features the largest population of the rare oribi in South Africa. Sailing, powerboating, water-skiing and swimming are popular activities on the 3,400 ha.
The Ncandu State Forest Reserve is located 32 km (20 mi) west of Newcastle and is the second biggest indigenous forest in the province; it consists of grassy plains, Yellowwood gorges and streams that run through the forest to meet the Ncandu river, where trout may be found. The reserve offers various trails to view sandstone cliffs, waterfalls, and various bird species.
The city has many public parks within its suburbs; such as the Trim Park and The Gardens on Hospital Street. The Gardens on Hospital Street offers an expansive grassy garden with large shady trees, and is located in the suburb of Newcastle Central. The park is used by Newcastillians to walk their pets and play in a free environment.
Ntshingwayo Dam (Chelmsford Dam), a key water source for Newcastle
Education
Private schools include Newcastle High School, St. Several Newcastle schools have buildings that have been declared National Monuments. These include the Pavilion at St. Dominic's Academy, designed by Brother Nivard Streicher and built in 1912. Established in 1882, Newcastle High School is the oldest school in the area. Schools in Newcastle's main townships of Madadeni and Osizweni include Osizweni High School, Indonsa Technical High School, St. Lewis Bertrand's High School, Bethamoya High School, Phendukani High School, Siyamukela High School, Thubelihle High School, Sesiyabonga High School and Ikhwezi High School. Other schools in Newcastle include Newcastle Islamic College, Amajuba High School, Tugela High School, St Oswald's Secondary (the oldest school of Indian origin), and Lincoln Heights Secondary School. Some junior schools include Hutten Park Primary, Drakensberg Primary, Newcastle Senior Primary, Busy-Bee and Arbor Park Primary, Lennoxton Primary, S.E. Qualitas Career Academy, a national private college, has a campus in the CBD.
Healthcare
Newcastle has three hospitals, two government owned and one privately owned: Newcastle Provincial Hospital (186 beds), Madadeni Hospital (1620 authorized beds, 1154 usable beds) and Mediclinic Newcastle (254 authorized beds, 186 operational beds).
Media
Caxton Community Newspapers is a major printer and publisher of newsprint materials in the region. Major newspapers include the Newcastle Advertiser, Newcastle Sun, Amajuba Eyethu, Agrieco, and the Northern Natal Get It Magazine.
International Relations
Furthermore, since the late 1980s, Newcastle has built a strong relationship with mainland China and also Taiwan, following the influx of Chinese nationals in the mid-1980s.
Newcastle is a town with a rich history, diverse culture, and significant industrial presence. From its early inhabitants to its role in major historical events and its modern-day industrial importance, Newcastle offers a compelling story of growth and transformation.
Popular articles:
tags: #Africa
