Jul 20, 2019 | Nelspruit Lodge
Read any of our local histories and you are bound to come across the name Percy Fitzpatrick and the story of his life. A transport rider made famous for his jounreys and his beloved companion, Fitzpatrick is a part of our legacy. His last trip was one of legendary status and a story you might enjoy.
A bit of background information to keep in mind is that transport riders of the day usually tried to get as many trips in before the rainy season came. They tried to avoid trips in the rainy season as the threat of malaria, tsetse flies and flooded rivers would often end in oxen getting sick and dying, the transport rider getting malaria, or even a wagon getting bogged down in mud or washed away in the flood.
Although it was a reckless decision, Percy Fitzpatrick was enticed by the good transport rates and decided to take one last trip.
At the time a new road, Pettigrew Road, was just completed, which would make his trip considerably shorter and if he travelled through the “Fly Belt” at night he felt confident he would be fine. By the time they reached Low’s Creek, the cattle were tired and hungry and since the area had lush vegetation and water, he decided to rest the cattle and let them have their fill of water and food.
It was only much later that he noticed his cattle were swishing their tails and then he realised they were been bitten by the dreaded tsetse fly. Later that night he moved them to higher ground and quickly onto Delagoa Bay.
Here the rains had not come and it was extremely hard going through the dusty land which covered man and beast in suffocating dust. Because it was late in the season and no rain had fallen, every creek or usual watering hole had become a muddy hole with no water. His fly bitten oxen were now getting weaker by the day and some of them had already died. Worn out and disheartened, Fitzpatrick pushed on with his quickly diminishing team.
One night, while outspanned, the rain came with vengeance, turning dry river beds into raging rivers and dusty roads into mud. Most of the oxen either died there or simply could not carry on, so he decided to load the goods from one of his four wagons onto the other three and push forward. After trying to get his oxen over a hill, he decided to cut his losses and leave one wagon there as his oxen were just too weak. Between the Kaap and Crocodile rivers, Fitzpatrick outspanned once more.
Now down to only twenty oxen, the following day he pushed them to cross a river that was chest high but by the afternoon there were thunderclouds building rapidly and so just before the rain pelted down they tied the remaining wagon to a large tree.
After a night of rain, they found the wagon still tied to the tree but now party underwater. There was nothing to do but wait for the water to subside enough to drag it out the river. With spent oxen and four more drifts to get through, they stumbled into Fig Tree Creek. Here he was forced to abandon another two of his wagons on the road.
Percy Fitzpatrick had taken a chance on this trip and lost. With only three oxen he limped into Barberton. Those three oxen died in the next few days and that was truly his last drive as a transport rider.
Learn more about Nelspruit’s fascinating history when you visit Nelspruit Lodge. We have a number of gorgeous rooms available for holiday makers and business people alike. Contact us today to book a room.
Jul 13, 2019 | Nelspruit Lodge
When we look at Mbombela today, it is a bustling town with huge shopping malls and even bigger farms that produce some of the best fruit in the country. Our town is a tourist destination of choice thanks to its moderate climate throughout the year, great places to stay and wonderful things to see.
But back in the 1800’s it was very different.
There were no roads and no shops. Back then most people that were farming in the area had to rely on traders who would bravely hitched up their oxen and take off into the unknown with their heavily laden wagons.
Often most of these traders died of malaria and the oxen from sleeping sickness before they reached their destination. Tsetse fly was another hindrance along the way and often traders would travel at night through tsetse fly infested areas as the flies were less active at night. Then they still had to fight through thick bush, over huge mountains and struggle through deep rivers that would flood in the rainy season.
Most traders were men, but there was one trader, a woman, who became famous for her brave spirit.
Sarah Maud Goff Heckford was born on the 30 June 1839 in Dublin, the daughter of a banker. As a child Sarah survived tuberculosis, and lived for the rest of her life with posture and gait problems as a direct result of the sickness. To make things worse both her parents and sister died when she was ten, and she was left in the care an aunt and uncle.
She married a doctor that she met while nursing in 1867, but that was short lived as he died in 1870 from tuberculosis. After working as a governess, when her hopes of becoming a farmer were dashed, she took her money and bought a cart and oxen and took to the bush as a trader.
She broke through the gender boundaries, which dominated the time, and made it as peddler/trader, serving both the Afrikaners and Africans that populated the land. Once on the road she would often have to clumber under her wagon when a sudden afternoon thunder shower would blow in from nowhere. Often the rivers would be in flood and she would have to make camp on the river banks while she waited for the rivers to subside enough for her to drive her oxen through. At times she would get to a mining community and there she would help by nursing some of the miners that were ill with malaria before moving on her way to the next stop.
In the late 1890’s when she was in her 60’s, Sarah left the road and went back to work as a governess. When the Second Boer War broke out this brave lady did work as a messenger for the English.
Before her death in 1903, Sarah Maud Heckford had served as a governess, been a doctor and a nurse, been both a farmer and a builder and made her fortune as a peddler in the remote bushveld. But that was not all she did, she also wrote and published books. In 1882 she wrote “A Lady Trader in the Transvaal”, “Excelsior” in 1884 and “The Story of the East London Hospital” in 1887.
Well ahead of her time, Sarah’s story is one that is little known but one that can inspire those living in this modern time.
Nelspruit has a fascinating history and those who visit our small town can easily find information about this history both before and during their visit. Book your stay at Nelspruit Lodge today and find out more about what makes our town the place that it is.
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