Page 98 - KBHA BULLETIN 20

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And so the question as to which specific point of land at the end of the Cape Peninsula is in Deleted:
fact the actual Cape of Good Hope was reportedly taken up by the Office of the Chief
Surveyor in Cape Town at a meeting held on July 7, 1957 (131) . Now one might well imagine
there were many both inside and outside this meeting hoping it would be possible to give this
distinction to the more scenically dramatic and inspiring Cape Point. Instead when the
calculations were in and all factors considered this distinction went to the less imposing
promontory to the west. In this decision the learned authorities at the Office of the Chief
Surveyor got it right for extending some 60 meters further south than Cape Point it is here
one finds the actual south-westernmost corner of the African continent, and what can be
called the ‘hinge point’ where a “drastic alteration in course” is called for as one ‘doubles’
southern Africa. It is also, as explained in this paper, where Professor Axelson concluded
th
Bartolomeu Dias would have most likely erected his padrão de São Filipe on June 6 , 1488.

But before this point of land could be awarded this distinction another matter had to be
addressed. For most maps at that time had this designated as Cape Maclear and the stretch of
shoreline just to the north of it as Maclears Beach (named after Sir Thomas Maclear who as
Astronomer Royal at the Cape did meteorological work on site here in the mid- 1800s, and
was also one of the local experts called upon to assist in deciding on the location for the
original Cape Point Lighthouse). In the end the problem was apparently easily solved by the
Surveyor General’s Office by simply inserting the name Cape of Good Hope onto the point
of land in question and deftly shifting the name ‘Maclear’ to the minor outcropping of land to
the immediate east. And so it remains to this day with the Cape of Good Hope sandwiched
between Cape Maclear and Maclears Beach. This also serves to explain why there are three
‘capes’ found over such a short distance at the end of the Cape Peninsula.

Later developments

As the last pieces of land south of Plateau Road came into the reserve by the mid-1960s it
became practical to shift the fence line north and thus enclose the entire 77.5 sq. kilometres
now encompassed by the Reserve south of Plateau Road. It was also decided that the time
had come to shift the main entrance gate to a more convenient location along the main road
just north of Rooihoogte. Here three rondavels were built to serve as an office and

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