Maclear (H 12)

Name: Maclear

First white people in the area
[a]. Portuguese. On 24th March, 1593 the Portuguese ship Sao Alberto, on it's way from Cochin, East India to Lisbon was wrecked on the East Coast of S. A. on the rocks near the mouth of the Mbashe River. The captain of the ship Nuno Pereira, the pilot Rodrigo Migueis, 125 Portuguese men and women and 160 slaves survived the accident. The next day they decided to walk toe Lourenco Marques, now Maputo, in Mozambique where there was a Portuguese settlement. Two Portuguese priests, one carrying a wooden cross, led the company. After 121 days of hardships and difficulty, 115 Portuguese and 65 slaves reached Maputo.

The route followed by them passed a few miles south of the present Maclear. According to all historical records they were the first Europeans ever to enter the area. A portrayal of this procession was painted by the San in a cave on the farm Ben Strachan in the Inxu Gorge ward of the present Maclear district. During 1895 this and adjoining farms were cut off from Maclear and incorporated into the Tsolo district. It is not known if the painting is today still visible and accessible.


[b]. Sir Thomas Maclear, His Majesty the King of England's Astronomer at the Cape Colony, while remeasuring and extending the arc of the meridian, arrived during November 1843 at the Nqanqaru River. See Why Maclear?


[c]. Dutch/Afrikaans Frontiers. Die Dutch/Afrikaans speaking frontiers of the Cape Colony were dissatisfied with the way they were treated by the British Government and they sent an expedition to the present Kwazulu Natal province of the RSA to investigate the possibility of leaving the Cape Colony and to settle there.

On 14th January, 1834 a party under leadership of Piet Uys left Grahamstown in fourteen ox wagons. On 30th January they passed Gatberg and spent the night of 31st January at Nqanqaru[Maclear]. Uys named the river the Mooi [pretty] River and up to date it is known under that name.

A member of the San painted one of these ox wagons under an overhanging rock on the farm Craigmore. With the permission of Mondi Paper Co. the spot can be visited.


[d]. English. The first white man to settle in the present Maclear district was the medical doctor and missionary Rev. William Murray. He was born on 15 July 1837 at Newdeer near Tillinamoult, New Pitsligo in the county Aberdeenshire in Scotland. He was the son of John and Isabella Murray., John was a shoemaker and farmer who rented a small plot on the banks of the Ugie River.

William started school in New Pitsligo and eventually became a medical doctor. He gave his heart to God when he was still very young and always dreamt to do missionary work in Dark Africa. He was a member of the Congregational Church of Scotland but after being qualified as doctor, studied for minister of the Church of Scotland. With the assistance of the London Missionary Society he was sent to the Cape Colony to do mission work under the Griquas.

William married Ann Elliott on 20 April 1861 and their first child Ann Isabella was born on 1 February 1862. On 27 July 1862 Dr. Murray, his wife and child left by steamer of the Union Line from Southhampton for the Cape. On 24 August they arrived at Port Elizabeth. Via Grahamstown and Fort Beaufort they traveled by ox wagon to Hackney in the Queenstown district. On the way in the Katberg they were caught in a snowstorm. Due to all the hardship they went through the Murray's' daughter Ann died the same night of their arrival at Hackney on 9 September and Mrs. Murray the following day. The death of his family was a heavy blow to this young man.

Griquas from Inxu Drift came by ox wagon to fetch Rev. Murray at Hackney. They arrived back at Inxu Drift on 8 March 1863. While standing on the banks of the Inxu River Murray became homesick and as the river, the mountains and vegetation reminded him of his birthplace he changed the name of his missionary to Ugie. He was the first white man to settle permanently in the area called Kapaailand at that stage.

In Scotland the name Ugie is pronounced as "Oogie". The name comes from the word "oorie" or "ougie" from the Vikings of Iceland and means to get cold, literally "to shiver of the cold". In isiXhosa it is pronounced as Dyoki.

http://www.maclear.co.za/AboutMaclear.htm

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Why Maclear?
Question: Why was the name Nqanqaru Drift changed to Maclear?

Answer: As seen in the profile of Sir Thomas Maclear he remeasured and extended, between the years 1840 and 1847, the arc of the meridian as it was previously surveyed by N. L. de la Caille. He removed a long-standing discordance and provided a sound foundation for a trigonometrical survey of the Cape Colony.

In doing so he traveled during October/November 1843 to the furthest or utmost eastern point of the Cape Colony and even a bit further. He reached the Nqanqaru River during November. On a hill away from the western bank of the river he made a survey. He marked the spot with a steel pin and an inscription in wet cement. Such a point is called a merridor. He then turned back to Cape Town.

The British Colony called St. John's Territory was created on 14 July, 1873. Capt. J. R. Thomson was appointed as one of the assistant magistrates for the Gatberg district with his seat at Nqanqaru Drift. He was called from Grahamstown to Cape Town to be sworn in his new capacity.

While in Cape Town he met Sir Thomas Maclear. They had long discussions and even became friends. Sir Thomas informed him of his visit to Nqanqaru Drift and the observations he made. As soon as Thomson, after his arrival at Nqanqaru Drift, had time he set out to look for Sir Thomas's observation point. He found it and during another visit to Cape Town during 1877 he reported back to Sir Thomas. Thomson- not aware of the ship wrecked Portuguese and Dutch speaking frontier farmers- was convinced that Sir Thomas was the first white man to enter that area and that he should be honored as such. That was the reason why Thomson, after his return to Nqanqaru Drift after the Mpondomise rebellion asked the authorities to change the name to Maclear, in honor of Sir Thomas who died on 14 July 1879.

After the rebellion the Maclear district was surveyed 1882/86 and divided into farms disposed to loyal Griquas and white soldiers who fought on the British side. When surveying the farm Ranscombe the surveyor discovered the point from where Sir Thomas Maclear made his observations. He pointed it out to Mr. L. C. Cole, who was the magistrate at that time.

During 1927 the farm Ranscombe was subdivided. Mr. Robert Viedge became the owner of the subdivision on 19 June 1928. He called his new farm Merridor.

Sir Thomas Maclear was also the man who made the first complete survey of Table Mountain, overlooking the City of Cape Town. He planted a beacon on the highest point of the Eastern table of the mountain. Up to date this beacon is known as Maclear's Beacon.

Sir Thomas also loved an isolated beach near Cape Point on the Cape Peninsula. During the hot and dry summer months he often got up early on a Sunday morning and took his family by horse cart from the Observatory to this beach for a picnic. In course of time the beach became known as Maclear's Beach and the name lasts till to-day.

The main street of the town Elliot is called Maclear Road. There is also a Maclear Street in Lone Hill, Sandton, a suburb of the City of Johannesburg.
Near the Observatory in Cape Town several streets were named after Sir Thomas namely in the suburbs of Bishop's Court, Belhar, Edgemead and Ruyterwacht.

http://www.maclear.co.za/WhyMaclear.htm
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