Resolution of the Council of Policy, 19 July 1786: the establishment of the Drostdy of Graaff-Reinet and the definition of its jurisdiction, west along the Gamka and the north-eastern side of the Swartberg to the Brak River
Council of Policy resolution · consulted 2026-08-12
- Type
- Council of Policy resolution
- Repository
- Nationaal Archief, Den Haag / Western Cape Archives, Council of Policy (C series); TANAP transcription, CC0, published by the National Archives of the Netherlands and Leiden University; read through eGGSA's VOC Archive web application
- Reference
- C172, pp. 111-239, entry C172.p0111-0239, dated 1786-07-19
- Consulted
- 2026-08-12
The citation as it was given
THE ADMINISTRATIVE GEOGRAPHY OF THE GROUND NORTH OF THE SWARTBERG, STATED BY THE COUNCIL. Verbatim on the western limit: 'Dat gez: Drostdije Graaffe Rijnet in hare Jurisdictie aan deeze zijde, ofte ten westen, zal wezen bepaald door de KLIJNE LEEUWEN RIVIER, van haren oorsprong in het NIEUWE VELDS GEBERGTE af, tot daar zij zig met de GUMKA ofte GROTE LEEUWE RIVIER verEenigd, voorts door dezelve Grote Leeuwen Rivier, tot aan DE ZWARTE BERG en vandaar langs de NOORD OOSTELIJKE ZIJDE van dat gebergte TOT AAN DE BRAKKE RIVIER. Dat dezelve Jurisdictie van Graaffe Rijnet zig verder aan deeze zijde zal moeten bepaald houden door de GAMTOOS RIVIER tot aan de zee; en dat het gem: District van Graaffe Rijnet aan de oost zijde gelimiteerd zijn, door de TARKA en BAVIAANS RIVIEREN, tot daar zij zig met de grote Visch rivier verEenigen.' WHY THIS ROW EXISTS: IT SETTLES WHICH SWARTBERG, AND THE CORPUS CARRIES AT LEAST TWO. The southern one is Caledon's: C220 has 't Warme bad aan de Zwarte Berg' and C201 lists commando cannon posts at 'de Klijne houwhoek', 'Swarteberg, bij Jan Marais' and 'Tijgerhoek' - Houwhoek, Tygerhoek and a warm bath are the Overberg, not this district. The northern one is ours, and this resolution proves it by the company it keeps: the Gamka, the Nuweveld and the Gamtoos cannot describe any mountain but the Great Swartberg. CONSEQUENCE FOR SRC-425: the Brakke Fontein petition is answerable to the LANDDROST OF GRAAFF-REINET, and Caledon's Swartberg was never in that jurisdiction - it was Stellenbosch and Swellendam ground. So the district attribution disambiguates the mountain, which is a different and better argument than the one first made, that 'agter de Swarte berg' simply meant this one. AND IT GIVES A BETTER ANCHOR THAN A GUESS: the district's own western limit ran along the Swartberg's north-eastern side TO THE BRAKKE RIVIER. A Brakke Fontein is far likelier to sit on or near a Brakke Rivier than to be found by matching a modern farm name. See LEAD-0181. The 1786 establishment of the drostdy is the same act SRC-423's 1775 boundary extension anticipates, eleven years on, and the two together are the administrative frame this district sat inside before the 1841 grants turned grazing into property.
Kept verbatim. This project contradicts published genealogies and corrects a family's own oral tradition, so every claim has to be checkable by someone who was not in the room.
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