Page 120 - Bulletin 18 2014

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THE CENTENARY OF THE MUNICIPAL AMALGAMATION, SEPTEMBER 1913

2. WATER FOR THE TIP OF AFRICA

Tony Murray
Pr. Eng., B.Sc. (Eng), B.Com., Hon Fellow SAICE

Introduction

Cape Town, at the foot of Table Mountain, has for a city, one of the most spectacular

locations in the world. Early mariners, rounding the Cape on the way to the East noted the

beautiful backdrop to Table Bay when they stopped to replenish their water, but made little
effort to spend any time there. The city owes its foundation to the presence of fresh water,

specifically from the stream which once flowed into Table Bay from the Platteklip Gorge
which bisects Table Mountain. The stream was prominent in pre-settlement times: a sketch

by Peter Mundy in 1634 shows this as a feature of the valley below the mountain: “a Prettie
Brooke which cometh from the Monstrous Cleft.” (Fig. 3.9.)

The governing board of the Dutch East India Company resolved to set up a temporary
settlement at the foot of Table Mountain and sent Jan van Riebeeck to establish the company

gardens just below the area where the Platteklip Stream split naturally into two. He diverted it
into channels around both sides of the cultivated area, and installed a system of minor

furrows for irrigation. The major stream, which he named the ‘Varsche River’ then continued

down to the sea where it was the source of drinking water for both the settlement and passing
ships.

In 1660 he widened and deepened the stream bed, which now assumed the status of ‘gracht’

or canal, and he built a dam for filling water casks near the jetty. Van Riebeeck’s successor,

Wagenaar, replaced this with a larger cistern in 1670, and in the 1970s the remains of this
structure were unearthed during the construction of the Golden Acre project where they are

on display, in situ, today.

In all their colonies the Dutch harked back to their homeland and built canals, and even in the
cash-strapped company town at the Cape, a network of channels soon evolved. The main