This blog post is a trip back in the history of Robberg Nature Reserve and experiences in the early days. Thanks to Val Williams, Hjalmar Thesen and Derek Frielinghaus – this post was posted on facebook.
“The Robberg nature Reserve is undoubtedly a wilderness area of exceptional value, beauty and rarity and, together with the Nelson Bay archaeological museum, a site of international importance”.
Thanks to Derek Frielinghaus for sharing this letter
P.O. Box XX
Knysna, 6570
23rd August, 1997
Dear Val,
Regarding your telephone call concerning Robberg, let me say at the outset that in these notes of mine I have not considered exact dates to be of great importance, but the few facts I can give you about Robberg are as follows:
The Thesen Family hut (the nearest to the car park of the two stone rondavels) was built in 1924. The guiding hands were my father, Harry Thesen, his brother Leonard and their other two brothers Rolf and Eric. Local “colored” labour was involved and there was never an architect or professional builder present. The idea was to achieve a natural cave-effect blending with the environment and this atmosphere was so successful and pronounced that “the Robberg Hut” became a very frequently used place of refuge and spiritual renewal of three generations of the Thesen family.
I was born in 1925 – apparently already having spent a night in a half-complete hut three months before I was born – but have vivid memories of nearly every nook and cranny of the Peninsula from when I was ten years old in 1935 and either fishing with my father or with my many cousins.
In those days the Peninsula had belonged first to the Admiralty and thereafter to the Divisional Council and it was from the Divisional that my father’s generation secured the original lease to build a shack there in the first place. The first lease stated an amount of one shilling per annum as rental for the ground occupied by the hut. At no time did the land upon which the hut stood ever belong to us and eviction or termination of the lease could take place at any time after three months notice.
In the 1930’s merely getting to the hut in my father’s vintage car was on itself an adventure with the Piesang River ford & real navigational obstacle in, particularly after heave rain.
At this point I should probably mention that in my grandfather’s day, when my father and his brothers were back from boarding school (St. Andre’s College, Grahamstown) for the Christmas holidays, and, before the advent of motor cars the entire family would re-locate from my grandfather’s house in Knysna to Robberg by cart, horses and oxwagens with all the usual paraphernalia tents, cooking utensils and pots and pans. And not forgetting fishing rods and the usual tackle: in those days Cuttyhunk flax or Irish Linen braided green fishing line, copper wire and home made lead sinkers.
The camp site was always under the milkwood trees on the Van Rooyen’s farm at the base of the Robberg Peninsula and it is probably that these camps were the inspiration for my father’s generation to locate a hut site on the Peninsula and to build the stone rondavels there.
At that time Laurie Van Rooyen (Caspar’s father) hired the entire Robberg Peninsula from either the Admiralty or the Divisional Council for a nominal sum as grazing for his goats. The goat herd which I would imagine was some fifty to a hundred strong was visible all over the mainland Robberg Peninsula, negotiating the cliffs and precipitous paths with ease and competing with the dassies for grazing.
It was directly due to the efforts of my father and his brothers as well as the Fourie family that the Robberg Peninsula was eventually declared a Nature Reserve under the Cape Provincial Nature Conservation Department. Once the proclamation came into force the goat grazing problem ended and since then of course we have seen great improvements in accessibility (wooden walkways), a proliferation of freesias and spider orchids, Erica-dominated fynbos and control of bait collecting.)
As far as the protection of the resident rockfish is concerned the controls came too late. It had always been a carefully observed ritual to write up the hut diaries by resident family and friends and these covered not only social events but also natural phenomena and fishing bags as well. From these diaries it is quite certain that the fish stocks then bear no comparison to catches made today even with the superior tackle available. Fish species such as red Steen bras, black Steen bras, dageraad, red roman, galjoen, John Brown and bronze bream (Hottentots) were regularly caught from places such as the famous Hoe Bank which today is hardly worth the trouble of fishing. It will take many years before these resident rock fish ever return in any numbers as their habitat ranges, sex changes and slowness of growth are against them. The pelagic fish such, as yellowtail, leerfish and elf are still abundant because they are not depedant on any single permanent habitat. This will also apply to sand musselcrackers and white Steen bras for which there is plentiful supply of feeding available.
As far as all other resident wild life is concerned this, with the exception only of cape fur seals and black eagles, is as rich as ever.
The diaries were commenced in January 1931 and entered faithfully (except for one break of a few years where some copies went missing) up until about the mid 1980’s when our lease of the land was cancelled by the Cape Town Head Office of Provincial Nature Conservation. An assessor for the Provincial Administration duly arrived and after inspection in the company of the writer, we received a Cheque in compensation for the buildings of R30, 000. This Cheque we returned to Administration headquarters uncashed.
There has always been a hope amongst certain optimistic members of the family that if and when this land is transferred to the Parks Board, multiple land usage may permit of our family once again having the opportunity of hiring this historical rondavel together with members of the public.
Present usage is however as a sleeping over camp for Provincial Administration workers as well as a water catchments and storage area for the car park wash rooms.
The Robberg nature Reserve is undoubtedly a wilderness area of exceptional value, beauty and rarity and, together with the Nelson Bay archaeological museum, a site of international importance.
I hope these memories will be of value in your quest for the continued preservation of Robberg.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
Hjalmar Thesen
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