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houseeb@houseebony.co.za
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| Close to restaurants, CBD and
New Active Gym |
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| 500 meters from new premises of Monte
Vista Casino. Now under construction!!
Click on picture to visit the website. |
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NEWCASTLE
This warm, well-watered and sunshine filled town was the fourth town
founded in Natal. It was named after the Duke of Newcastle
(British-Colonial Secretary of the Cape at the time). It was surveyed in
1864 and featured prominently in Transvaal’s first war of Independence.
It is where the penultimate battle was fought at Skuinshoogte (sloping
mountain), in 1881. It was also a strategic town in the Anglo-Boer war,
featuring prominently in both the Boer and English defence. Coal was
discovered in the district in the late 1800's, but the town’s original
industry was washing and spinning wool from sheep, which are farmed in
the area. Steel furnaces dominate the town today as well as coal related
industries. The local Indian population have erected what is reputed to
be the largest domed Hindu temple in the Southern Hemisphere. |
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RORKES DRIFT
The name Rorke’s Drift is synonymous with an epic Anglo-Zulu War battle in
1879. The mission buildings built around the original farm of James Rorke,
had been occupied by the British as a supply depot and hospital where some
injured soldiers were being nursed. The garrison comprised only 110 men.
Shortly after 3pm, two survivors from another confrontation arrived to warn
of an imminent attack. The only means of fortification were 2 ox wagons,
some biscuit boxes and bags of maize meal. 4,000 fearsome Zulu warriors
arrived flushed with victory from their last battle, and probably without
orders to do so, stormed the hospital. Against overwhelming odds, there
followed one of the most gallant defences in British Military history. The
battle raged for 13 hours after which the thwarted Zulus withdrew.
Remarkably the British casualties were only 17 dead and 10 wounded. Eleven
Victoria Crosses were awarded for gallantry in this battle and a bronze
plaque commemorates this site. Today you will find a Zulu craft centre here
with women selling their dyed cloth, hand woven carpets and traditional
glazed pots.
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