The Gauteng MG Vintage Car club arrange to have a guided tour of all the Bethulie heritage sites with Trudie Venter as tour guide. The tour started at the Pellissier House Museum. It was quite an experience to see all the beautiful vintage cars drive up the street and park in front of the museum in a long row.
These are very old cars that need special fuel additives and extra tender care. The group traveled with their own mechanic so that if something went wrong or if a car broke down, someone with the proper knowledge and experience was on hand to fix the problem.
After the museum tour the convoy of cars went down Joubert Street where the different sites of the Boer war concentration camps could be seen from the road. Joubert Street is a tarred road. From there the roads to the concentration camp sites were damaged dirt roads with pot holes so none of the owners of the vintage MG cars wanted to risk damaging their vehicles.
From this vantage point Trudie was able to point out the locations of the different sites and she told the story of the horrific concentration camp of Bethulie during the Anglo- Boer War where so many people died because of the treatment they received under the British soldiers and due to the bad hygienic conditions of the camps.
The camp was on three different sites and was moved twice. The final camp that improved on the conditions of the previous two, was situated in the area as shown in the photograph below.
It is currently on a small holding and part of private property.
After discussing the old sites of the concentration camp the group drove to the memorial camp cemetery. All the graves from the original grave yard had to be moved to the new site when the Gariep dam was built, because it was estimated that when the dam fills, the old graveyard site would be flooded. Land for the new site was donated in 1962. All the remains were excavated and reburied in the memorial camp cemetery. After all this effort the area where the original graveyard was, has never been flooded up till now in 2025.
The memorial wall is an important part of the cemetery. It has all the names of people who died in the Bethulie concentration camp during the Boer war. According to Trudie’s book “Bethulie en die Anglo-Boereoorlog” it is estimated that 1 374 people died here during the war. It could be more because the administration at the time was deficient and proper records were not kept. Amongst the deceased are some of Trudie’s family members who died during the war.
This was the last site of the tour in Bethulie and the MG club members continued their journey through the Eastern Cape via Venterstad and beyond where they met up with another MG club to continue on their road trip.
Trudie Venter’s book “Bethulie en die Anglo-Boereoorlog” is available in paperback and electronically as a PDF. At the moment the book is only available in Afrikaans. If you are interested in buying the book you can phone or Whatsapp Trudie on 083 630 8849.
