Places near Bulawayo - Balla Balla, Cement, Essxevale, Figtree, Gordon Park, Khami Ruins, Matopos, Matopos Hotel, Moth Shrine, Plumtree and Worlds View (Matopos).
Balla Balla (Mbalabala)
Mbalabala (Balla Balla until 1982) is a village on the main Beitbridge
to Bulawayo road (at the junction with the Filabusi Road) in
Matabeleland, Zimbabwe. The name is derived from the Ndebele name for
the greater kudu (scientific name: Tragelaphus strepsiceros). It was
originally rendered Balla Balla by Europeans, which was altered to its
present name in 1982 by the Zimbabwean government in order to coincide
closer with the local pronunciation.
Balla Balla was originally known as Filabusi Siding which was
established on May 1, 1904, but its name changed in 1907, after a nearby
peak of that name. There is, however, some doubt as to whether the
original Filabusi Siding was located at the same spot as the present
Balla Balla. It is probable that the siding, prior to 1907, was located
somewhere between Balla Balla and Stanmore Siding, and it is possible
that the two places existed simultaneously for a short time pending the
establishment of the new station at Balla Balla.
The village has a railway station on the Beitbridge/Bulawayo Railway and
is the railhead for the mining area of Filabusi. The village also hosts
a large army barracks, which is the Zimbabwe School of Infantry,
formerly Shaw Barracks for the Rhodesian African Rifles from 1976 to
1980. The site was previously St. Stephen's College from February 1959
to December 1975.
Mbalabala is situated on high ground, which forms a ridge between the
Mzingwane and Mbilambowe watersheds, in an important cattle ranching
area with a history of gold prospecting. There is a prominent landmark
nearby in the form of a granite hill (kopje) known as Balloon Kop or
"Baldy" - due to its bare rock.
The village is situated on high ground, which forms a ridge between the
Umzingwani and Mbilambowe watersheds. A police station was in existence
until 1904, and police trooper, J. T. Woods, in addition to his police
duties, acted as Government forwarding agent and Postmaster for the
district.
A road was constructed from Belingwe to Balla Balla in 1906 via Hibernia
Mine with a view to affording a more direct communication between
Belingwe and the railway line. There was a coaching service that carried
passengers and mails between Balla Balla and Belingwe which took 15
hours between these two centres - a distance of 116 km, but with
development of better roads and private transport, the coaches were
replaced by motorised vehicles.
Essexvale
The region around Essexvale was, prior to the Matabele occupation,
inhabited by the Rozi Moyo people, who had migrated from the territory
around Gwanda and Belingwe.
The township was founded in 1894 and originally consisted of an estate
of nearly 200,000 acres. Frederic C. Selous, who contracted to guide the
pioneer column to Mashonaland had an interest in the Company owning the
estate, but left the country after fulfilling his contract. He returned
in 1895, and took up residence on the estate.
He erected a wire-wove house which he ordered from the United Kingdom,
on top of a cliff 25 metres above the Ingnaima River. Selous was
assisted by a young German, Herr Blocker, who was the forest officer on
the estate. It was the Company's intention to plant large quantities of
gum trees.
During the Matabeleland Rebellion of 1896, Selous left the estate and
assisted in quashing the rising, but during his absence the house was
burnt down by Inxnogan, of the rebellious Matabele indunas. When the
Rebellion was over, he wrote a book of his experiences, entitled
Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia, and retired to England.
The village is situated 37 km from Bulawayo by road and 47 km by rail on
the Bulawayo-West Nicholson line. The area contains two gold belts on
which there were several mines, the largest of which was the Bushtick.
The main gold belt originates in the Filabusi district and runs through
the estate in a northerly direction. The other, branches off near Balla
Balla peak and runs west, terminating in the granites of the Bulalima
district. Tungsten is also found in the area.
The grass of the district, which was known as Godhlwayo is of an
excellent quality, and the area supported large herds of Lobengula's
cattle, who once said that the cattle of Godhlwayo were as many as
locusts.
Bulawayo receives its water supply from the Ncema dam which is situated
on the estate. Before the establishment of Essexvale as a township, the
Administrative centre was at Makukupen, which was opened as a police
post in 1896. H. M. Jackson, who later became a Chief Native
Commissioner was in charge. There was also a store which ran a postal
agency and served the gold mine, which lay about a kilometre to the
south east. Makukupen (meaning chicken) was the name of a headman who
had his village at the foot of the Scoveni Hills, 7 km south-west of
Essexvale. The Post Office was subsequently transferred to the farm,
Widgeon, which was owned by Russell Brown. After his death, the agency
was carried on by his wife for many years and when it was finally closed
in 1965, it had been operated by the Brown's for a period of 37 years.
Figtree
Figtree, 37 km from Bulawayo on the railway to the south is an important
cattle farming area where the Connelly brothers, Joe and Redmund, have
established one of the best known Hereford herds in Southern Africa.
Figtree was named after an excellent specimen of a wild fig tree (Fiscus
scraba) which was a well known landmark and was the place where, before
the occupation, missionaries, hunters, traders and others had to await
the permission of the king to enter his domain.
The area was first surveyed by Maxwell Edwards, but he had to return to
Bulawayo when the rebellion broke out in 1896. On his way to safety, he
was attacked by a detachment of Matabele, but he managed to evade being
captured and put to certain death.
When the telegraph line from the south was being constructed,
arrangements were made by Captain Norris Newman, who was Reuter's
correspondent in Bulawayo, to send his telegrams to the telegraph head.
He also catered for private telegrams, for which he charged according to
the distance the telegram had to be taken to the telegraph head. He made
special stamps for the purpose for which three values of $1, 50c and 25c
were used. The reduced charge operated from the Figtree Camp, but when
the lines were thus far, the Government introduced a similar service at
a charge of lOc, whereupon Capt. Newman discontinued his scheme.
The Anglican Church opened Cyrene mission near Figtree in 1939. It was a
bold experiment in native education. The director of the mission was the
Rev. Edward Patterson, who had previously served with Bishop Paget,
Archbishop of Central Africa, when he was still a priest in Benoni in
the Transvaal. The Rev. Patterson had a special talent in art and set
about developing the African talents in arts and crafts, a task in which
he was singularly successful, and he demonstrated the African's natural
ability in wood carving. The work was so successful that an exhibition
of Cyrene art was held in London during 1949, and another in 1954 - an
exhibition which did much to bring the Rhodesian African Art to the
attention of the outside world.
The American Salvation Army also operate an educational scheme called
the ‘Usher Institute' at Leighwood near Figtree. It was named after J.
Usher, a pre-pioneer who was trading at Lobengula's kraal at the time of
the latter's defeat in 1893.
Before the Rebellion, another trader named W. H. Dawes had a store near
Figtree at Mabukutwani, on the banks of the Umgenin River, but which he
had to vacate during the troubles. He subsequently joined the police and
for many years was stationed at Mphoengs on the Bechuanaland (now
Botswana) border. After his retirement, he purchased Glamorgan farrm
where he lived until his death.
F. R. Barnes, who was Postmaster of Bulawayo during the period 1910-1921
retired on his farm at Figtree, but he was perhaps best known for his
exploits during the Mashonaland Rebellion of 1896, when, as a member of
the Mashonaland Volunteers, he was detailed to patrol and repair the
telegraph line between Salisbury and Marandellas which was constantly
being interrupted by the rebels.
At first, Figtree consisted of nothing more than a store, post office
and police station. Not more than six Europeans were living on the
station. The storekeeper, John Strike, also took in lodgers, but was
unco-operative towards the British South Africa Company's servants and
the Postmaster, John Collyer, who later became Postmaster-General had to
share a mess with the troopers. All buildings were of the wattle and
daub variety, with a tarpaulin provided to give additional protection
for the post office apparatus.
Plumtree
Plumtree is the port of entry into Rhodesia from Botswana and was
founded in 1897, when the railway to Bulawayo was being constructed.
Like the three other railway stations between Plumtree and Bulawayo, a
tree was chosen for the name of the place.
Plumtree falls within Bulalima-Mangwe district, the name of which is an
artificial combination of Bulilima (the area in which the Bulilima
people dwelt under the Chiefs Mzwazi, Menu and Mangwe). The Bulilima
lived in the eastern part of the area known as Mangwe. They probably
acquired their name because of their habit of ploughing fields abandoned
by others.
The township has been renowned for its school, which first started as a
co-educational institution. When the railway reached Bulawayo from
Mafeking in 1897, the stations were staffed with permanent way officials
and very soon the problem of educating their children arose, not only in
respect of those living in Rhodesia, but also those working in
Bechuanaland.
The South African Railway Mission, helped by the railways and Rhodes,
tackled the problem but the first question was whether the school should
be at Plumtree or Francistown. It was settled in favour of Plumtree
because an official stationed there had nine children - which would be a
useful nucleus for any new school.
The school was founded by Bishop Gaul in 1902 and began in the railway
refreshment room but afterwards moved to the Customs house. Then five
large pole and dagga huts were built on land given by the British South
Africa Company. The first schoolmistress was Miss Musson, who was
succeeded two years later by Miss Slinn. In 1913 the School Council
decided that Plumtree school, which catered for other children as well
as those of railwaymen, should be a school for boys only and at the same
time the government took it over under the Department of Education.
The name of Plumtree school will always be especially linked with that
of R. W. Hammond, a young Cambridge graduate, who was appointed the
first headmaster, a post he held for 30 years until 1936. He built the
school on the lines of an English public school and founded a great
tradition. He married Miss Cowling, the sister of A. G. Cowling, who was
for many years the Chief Inspector of Schools and later Chief Education
Officer.
Plumtree village school for boys and girls up to Standard VI was
established in 1920.
Although the township of Plumtree never developed to any great extent,
it has been the home of some great Rhodesian characters. Amongst its
residents was for example Hans Lee, a pre-pioneer whose early claim to
fame followed the shooting of his first lion at the age of 12 years,
while it was attacking a cow in the cattle kraal at the family farm at
Mangwe. He had become a very well-known hunter and a remarkably fine
shot. He was engaged in 1891 as the guide and hunter to accompany Lord
Randolph Churchill, who trekked through Mashonaland from Tuli, via Fort
Victoria and Salisbury. Hans Lee gave Lord Randolph some excellent
sport, and he was able to recount many of his experiences with Lee in
his book `Men, Mines and Animals in South Africa'. Lee died whilst
walking to Plumtree Post Office on January 9, 1939.
Commandant Cornelius van Rooyen, a heavy bearded hunter who had made his
way into Matabeleland long before the pioneers arrived, also spent his
last days at Plumtree with his son-in-law named Wilde. Wilde's father
settled in Plumtree in the 1890's and in partnership with a man named
Wilmore, traded in horses, which they purchased in Mafeking and rode to
Bulawayo, and Northern Rhodesia via the Pandama-tenga road. Wilde was
also a taxidermist of some repute, and many of the specimens in the
Queen Victoria and Bulawayo museums were prepared by him.
There were a number of `remittance men' living in the district who had
bought farms from the British South Africa Company, but practically
without exception they failed to make a success of farming in what was a
marginal agricultural area. One of these, named Rayner owned a farm
called Tjompani about 40 km from Plumtree. The house was left in a state
of disrepair, and the one time elegant Victorian furniture which had
been imported from Britain, was severely damaged by termites that had
built huge mounds inside the house. The yard had become a scrap heap of
old implements which had long since been cannibalised by the local
tribesmen to repair their own ploughs and other implements.
Then there was Jim Barclay - who lived the life of a recluse. He and his
brother had once lived together on a farm called Cromarty, but Jim was
naive and unaware that his brother was rustling cattle across the
Bechuana border. After his arrest and trial Jim remained on the farm and
began to live the life of a native. He made a monthly trip to the
Tjompani store to purchase some tea and sugar - his only luxuries.
Around his hut there grew a luxurious garden - he had been a
professional gardener in Scotland before coming to Africa. He had only
one ambition and that was to reach the age of three score years and ten
- which he did, plus a few more.
Plumtree is the headquarters of the Bulalima-Mangwe native district - an
area of 1360 000 ha and some of Rhodesia's famous Native Commissioners
have been stationed here, including J. W. Posselt, R. Lanning (who later
became Chief Native Commissioner) and W. E. Thomas the son of a
pre-pioneer missionary who lived on his farm Dryden during his
retirement. Thomas was born at Inyati in 1865, and grew up amongst the
Matabele people. He was five years old when Lobengula was crowned king
of the Matabele, during which ceremony the missionaries, though
teetotal, drank beer to celebrate the event. He was sent to Wales for
his education and at the age of 15 had passed the University entrance
examination - a feat which was regarded as exceptional.
Lobengula gave his father a farm about twenty miles from Bulawayo, which
he called Shiloh and where he established a mission. W. E. Thomas
became, and was the only white man ever to do so, a member of
Lobengula's bodyguard. He became a transport rider in 1890 during the
occupation of Mashonaland, and during the Rebellion was Chief Native
Commissioner in Matabeleland. After the Rebellion be became Native
Commissioner for Plumtree, the administrative camp being located at
Tegwani. Before his retirement in 1921, he spent seven years as
Superintendent of Natives at Fort Victoria.
He was the eldest of a large family, and had to shoulder his
responsibilities at an early age after the death of his father. He had
to make the coffin, bury his parent, and then look after the rest of the
family until they could fend for themselves.
After her daughter married Ernest Stoole, a trader in the Plumtree
district Mrs. Jessie Smith affectionately known as Granny Smith settled
in Plumtree. She was followed by six of her children each of whom had a
family with the result that a large proportion of Plumtree's population
was related to one another. Granny Smith, before her death had over 100
living descendants, the majority of whom were resident at Plumtree at
one time or another. Tom Smith - not related to Granny - lived in the
bush about 30 miles from the village, together with his wife and
mother-in-law, who hailed from St. Helena. He produced a number of sons
who became fully integrated with the tribal society in which they lived.
When his wife died of old age, his mother-in-law was still in good
shape, and so he married her. She was in such good shape that she
outlived old Tom who died at a ripe old age. He was a man of outstanding
appearance, carrying a patriarchal beard of good proportions which had
long since turned from grey to pure white. When he died his burial
presented a problem. It was during a period of very wet weather and the
sodic soils associated with the area are very shallow with a clay strata
a few feet below the surface, which holds the water during the rains. A
passing trader was asked by the widow to attend to the funeral
arrangements and he constructed a coffin from the doors of one of the
huts, Soon the grave became waterlogged, and when the coffin was lowered
into the grave it refused to sink, but remained afloat. The problem was
eventually solved by placing a heavy stone upon old Tom's chest and
another at his feet, whilst with a pole he was kept in his watery grave
as the coffin was covered with the excavated soil. On September 20,1881,
Lobengula ordered the burning down of the Royal Kraal near the present
Sauerdale, and moved to a new site (the present Government House in
Bulawayo). He did not want the missionaries to accompany him, but gave
Fr. Prestage permission to go to Empandeni 30 km from Plumtree and teach
the people there. Lobengula thought the people at this kraal to be the
worst in the country. In 1885 Fr. Prestage returned to Empandeni with
John Halyot a builder, who had built Lobengula's wagon shed at Bulawayo
and on Umsasa hill he built the mission, but the following year Fr.
Prestage's superiors at Grahamstown ordered him to abandon the mission.
Bitterly disappointed he appealed to them to rescind their decision
which they did in 1887. Accompanied by Fr. Booms, he returned to
Empandeni. From then onwards buildings appeared and the missionaries
began their task of educating their charges, firstly in religious
doctrine, and then in agriculture, carpentry and smith's work.
In 1888 Fr. Prestage was joined by another pioneer missionary, Fr.
Hartman, who was instrumental in commencing St. George's College. The
mission had its ups and downs and it almost lost its title in 1895 when
the B.S.A. Company beaconed off a tract of land which incorporated the
mission site. The mission had to move to a new site some four miles to
the north, and thus the present Empandeni came into existence. Today
Empandeni has expanded into a secondary school up to Cambridge level, a
lower and higher teacher training section, including a homecraft unit
for girls.
The Methodist church established the Tegwani Mission 15 km north of
Plumtree and the London Missionary Society, under the Rev. John
Whiteside opened a mission at Dombedemba 25 km west of Plumtree.