Farm Name
|
Diepfontein
|
District
|
Kroonstad
|
Morgen
|
|
S Rds
|
|
Number Owners
|
3
|
Surname
|
Van der Westhuizen
|
Name
|
Pieter Jacobus
|
Number
|
476
|
Ref ID
|
5562
|
From the first, the medical officer was concerned about health in the camp. A number of small children were suffering from diarrhoea, although there had been no fatalities. Women and children slept on the ground with little protection and the doctor was concerned that they would suffer from pulmonary diseases in the wet weather. He urged the erection of corrugated iron huts with wooden floors or the provision of mattresses at the very least. Blankets would be provided only where absolutely necessary, along with mattress ticking. The women must make their own bedding with 15 lbs of hay allowed them, the MO was informed. Fortunately at this stage the inmates still had the cattle which they had brought into camp with them and milk was freely available for the children. Later on, however, grazing deteriorated and the refugee stock was sold to the ORC administration and removed to farms nearer to Bloemfontein. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Brandfort/)
By the end of March 1901 numbers in the white camp were mounting and, as in other camps, people arrived without warning and tents were in short supply. Health declined and typhoid was prevalent. Hospital accommodation was inadequate and the wagons and tents were overcrowded. The new arrivals were often in a desperate state. Some had been in a Boer laager in the Hoopstad district for some months; the children were clad only in sheep skins and hides and they had been on very short rations. Come they did – 3 000 arrived on 9 August 1901, in a bad state of health, with only 25 tents to accommodate them. Many of the new arrivals suffered from trachoma, an eye disease caused by flies and fairly common amongst the Dutch, the MO reported. One source of disease, Dr Kendal Franks was convinced, was the insanitary condition of the nearby town of Brandfort, which he considered was primitive. Much of the drinking and cooking water came from open sluits [furrows]; excrement was emptied into cesspools close to the water wells; cattle roamed the town and slaughtering of cattle took place there as well. Measles and diphtheria broke out there before the camps. In an attempt to isolate the camp, the inmates were prevented from going into town but, since the military commandant continued to issue passes, some contact was inevitable. Worse still, the military authorities sent about a hundred people from the town to the camp. Diphtheria spread to the camp by the middle of August although, fortunately, it was the one disease for which there was an effective drug therapy, known as an anti-toxin, which was provided. Measles soon followed. Once the measles epidemic started, there was the problem of hospital accommodation for the sick. Brandfort was a camp with a particularly high mortality rate, peaking in October 1901 and coinciding with the diphtheria epidemic, brought in by a group of people ‘in very poor condition from continual trekking’. The measles epidemic spread so rapidly that attempts at isolation broke down and there were so many cases that the hospital could not house them all. Worse still, the disease was so severe that almost every case developed broncho-pneumonia ‘with very fatal results’. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Brandfort/)
The water supply was a constant struggle. Camp washing took place above the dam which supplied the town’s water, to which the municipality understandably objected. Since the town was so dirty, the camp authorities were not very sympathetic but they agreed to sink more boreholes. By February 1902, when camp management had become more sophisticated, conditions had improved. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Brandfort/)
Pratt Yule duly arrived. He was reasonably satisfied with the general condition of the camp. Some of the tents were worn but the latrines, now built of brick, were ‘beautifully clean’ and the water supply was good. But the hospital was a different story. By December 1901, George Randle, sent in a long report on the condition of Brandfort camp. The place, he felt, was untidy. Brandfort was the last of the ORC camps to be closed. An orphanage was established there to provide for the many children who had lost their parents during the war and had no relatives to care for them. The camp authorities tried to see that such children were looked after properly. The orphaned children were not the only people to remain in Brandfort camp. (https://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Brandfort/)
Op 29 Julie 1902 is hy oorgeplaas na die Kroonstad Konsentrasiekamp.
Personal Details
|
|
Name:
|
Mr Pieter Jacobus van der Westhuizen
|
Born in
camp?
|
No
|
Died in
camp?
|
No
|
Gender:
|
male
|
Race:
|
white
|
Marital
status:
|
married
|
Nationality:
|
Free State
|
Occupation:
|
farmer
|
Registration
as head of family:
|
Yes
|
Unique
ID:
|
95903
|
Camp History
|
|
Name:
|
Kroonstad
RC
|
Name:
|
Brandfort
RC
|
Age
arrival:
|
40
|
Date
arrival:
|
11/01/1901
|
Date
departure:
|
29/07/1902
|
Reason
departure:
|
transfer
|
Destination:
|
Kroonstad RC
|
Stock
into camp:
|
no
|
Stock
out of camp:
|
no
|
Farm History
|
|
Name:
|
Diepfontein
|
District:
|
Kroonstad
|
Notes:
|
1700m
|
Status
|
|
Type:
|
oath of neutrality
|
Notes:
|
01 Jun 1900, Kroonstad
|
Relationships
|
|
Mr Pieter Jacobus van der Westhuizen
|
|
is the father of Master
Daniel Pieter van der Westhuizen
|
|
is the father of Miss
Magdalena Christina van der Westhuizen
|
|
is the husband of Mrs
Maria Margaretha van der Westhuizen
|
|
is the father of Master
Mattheus Johannes van der Westhuizen
|
|
Sources
|
|
Title:
|
SRC 76
Brandfort CR
|
Type:
|
Camp register
|
Location:
|
Free State Archives Repository
|
Reference
No.:
|
SRC 76
|
Notes:
|
p.159
|
|
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