The Fish Hoek Valley Historical Association recently hosted a talk at the Fish Hoek Library celebrating women who shaped the valley over the past two centuries.
Christine Diemer was the first European farm owner in the valley, providing produce for the newly formed Simon’s Town Harbour, according to the curator of the Fish Hoek Valley Museum, Sue Maude.
Valley founders
“Hester de Kock, the last owner of Fish Hoek Farm, left instructions in her will to develop the farm as plots, leading to the establishment of Fish Hoek village in 1918. Leentjie van de Caab was born into slavery on Imhoff Farm.”
Slavery was abolished by the British Empire in 1833, but the enslaved had to serve an apprenticeship of four additional years, extending their enslavement until 1838, she added.
“Simons Town records show complaints from farm owner Pierre Rocher, asking authorities to punish ‘this unteachable girl’. On another occasion he complained that she was supposed to go to Cape Town ‘to attend her mistress’ but refused to go in a wood wagon as it was ‘not a proper carriage’. Leentjie showed remarkable spirit at a time when enslaved people were still incredibly harshly treated.”
First librarian
Ethyl May Gillard was given special mention as Fish Hoek’s first librarian. She served in this role
She was the first to introduce story reading to a library in Cape Town and in her retirement she was involved with setting up the museum.
“Bertha Dowley of Brakkloof Farm, where Evergreen and Sun Valley now stand, was passionate about horses,” Maude said.
“She took a generation of Fish Hoek children under her wing, providing sanctuary for children from broken homes or working parents. Aunty Bertha followed riders in her pink Valiant car, keeping everyone safe. Over weekends and holidays they collected around the giant dining table before spending time in the stables and riding all over the valley.”
Rugaya Albertus, a fruit seller who has operated a stall outside the shops in Second Avenue, Fish Hoek, has sold fruit there since the 1990s, taking the stall over after her husband’s death in 2004.
Up at 05:00 to buy supplies from Epping Market, Aunty Raya’s stall doubles as a community centre. Her story has been captured in an e-book by customer Carohn Cornell.
Anna van der Westhuizen taught piano to a generation of Fish Hoek children and was an accomplished concert pianist.
Her daughter, Barbara-Ann Horsfield, continues the musical legacy from Noordhoek.
Conservationist Nan Rice founded the Dolphin Action Protection Group in 1977, devoting her life to marine protection.
She campaigned against plastic pollution in the 1980s and helped form the Whale Disentanglement Network, which remains operational today.
Karoline Hanks manages Project Noordhoeked, which works to preserve Noordhoek’s environment.
She is about to run the Peninsula Ultra Fun Run three times continuously, covering 192 km for the Turtle Conservation Centre. Hanks also created a coffee-table book on Noordhoek to raise funds for the project, Maude added.
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