It is easy to forget that Observatory was originally a rural area, first used for grazing the Khoi's cattle, and then home to some of the first farms in the country. Once there were fields of wheat, barley and vegetables where today rows of Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses stand.

Observatory's settled origins date back to the first land grants of 1657, when a handful of Dutch East India Company (VOC) employees were released from service and granted farmland along the Liesbeek River, thus becoming 'free burghers'. This talk covers the history of these free burghers' homesteads and farms in the Observatory area, including Oude Molen, Coornhoop, Valkenburg and Varsche Drift. 

Note: Jim’s book will be on sale for R290


Valkenberg House - now Protea Hotel Mowbray