Page 90 - Bulletin 20 2016

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Miss Minicki for £8,500. Arrangements had also been concluded with the Govern-
ment whereby the Council leases to the Defence Department the whole of the
Reserve, including the four properties referred to above for the duration of the war at a
rental of £1,188 per annum, it being understood that the Department will be granted
freedom of action at the termination of the war in connection with the future of the
lease.” …… “ the report was noted with satisfaction.”

The Reserve at war

The use of this area of the southern Cape Peninsula by the military was nothing new. In the
years between the World Wars the Minicki farm Klaasjagers, in particular, was the site of
regular artillery practices held by the South African Permanent Garrison Artillery (SAPGA)
with live firing from a tented camp located between the Klaasjagers River and Teeberg,
southward towards Sirkelsvlei (115) . This continued apace into the years of the Second World
War and during this time of national emergency who would have had the temerity to object to
this? But it is none the less a sobering thought that more permanent damage to the natural
environment was perpetrated during the war years on this virtually pristine area than in all the
time since the arrival of Bartolomeu Dias. Roads were constructed to wherever the military
decided these were needed. Coastal observation posts and at least three radar installations
with attendant infrastructure were built in isolated, rugged places regardless of the impact on
the landscape, both physical and visual. (Figs. 2.45 – 2.49.) Indeed, this was perpetrated with
such single-mindedness that one could be forgiven for thinking the military authorities never
considered the possibility that the war might come to an end one day. In any case, the war did
come to an end and the Divisional Council could once again set its sights on developing the
nature reserve, and putting into effect the decision taken to eventually acquire all the land
south of Plateau Road for the nature reserve from Smitswinkel Bay on the east to the
township of Scarborough and Schusters Bay on the west.

Land acquisition

This first land acquired for the reserve after Smith’s farm was neighbouring Blaauwberg Vlei.
As early as 1938 the owners of this farm, Will and Percy Hare, are on record offering to
donate this farm of theirs if it would further the ongoing initiative to establish a nature reserve
in this southernmost area of the Cape Peninsula. True to their word Blaauwberg Vlei was first
th
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donated to the Divisional Council on June 20 , 1939 and officially transferred on April 28 ,
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