Historical Timeline

1954 to 1959

To view a chronological order of the history of Oukloof and some of the events that lead to the forced removal and the subsequent establishment of Esterhof, please scroll through the timelines below. Archive documents have been provided to add to the narrative of the Oukloof story.

1954

The Village Management Board offers the Dutch Reformed Church the Oukloof land (erf 216) in exchange for vacant land on the other side of the railway line next to the school. This new land will be used for the proposed new coloured settlement.

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1954

On the 6th February 1954 the new school for coloured children, known as the NG Kerk Primary School of Riebeek Kasteel, was opened by a prominent member of the white community and the headmaster of the white school, Mr Esterhuysen.

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1957

An inspection of the proposed site for the new coloured area does not go off well.

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1958

Erf 333, (Die Rug location) receives permission to become a whites only area. At the time, coloured people were still residing on the land. The land is subdivided into 26 erven, approved and registered as extension 1.

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1959

In July 1959, Mr Jacobus Johannes Esterhuysen – Principal of the white primary school in Riebeek Kasteel and chair of the Village Management Board (VMB) – proposes that the Dutch Reformed Church donates land as a gift to the board for the establishment of a new coloured settlement.

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