Page 39 - Bulletin 21

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George Francis de Stadler 1864: 730 morgen. The de Stadler family renamed it Sunnydale

Farm.

The property has a private cemetery. The earliest graves are three long tombs belonging to

the Smit brothers, who were farm labourers on Poespaskraal. (Fig. 2.6.) The death certificate
of one of the brothers, Albertus Petrus Smit, born Cape Colony, shows he died 11 April 1849

at the age of 53 while employed at Poespaskraal.

It was in 1864 that the property was acquired by my family, the de Stadlers. George Francis

de Stadler (who was a baker at Simon’s Town) bought farms for his sons Richard Adrian
Johannes and George Francis Jnr. He bought Oaklands Farm, Elsie’s River for Richard and

Poespaskraal for George. However, each fancied the other’s farm so the brothers swopped
farms and that is how our line of the family got Poespaskraal. The family were farmers who

did mixed farming. They supplied the surrounding areas with dairy, poultry and vegetable
products. In addition they farmed pigs. My mother, Thelma (born 1919), recalled fields of

watermelon, cabbages, squash, spanspeck, and pumpkins. She and her sisters used to love

lying on the warm watermelons in the evenings after hot sunny days. In addition, we were
amused to learn that some folk, on their way to Kommetjie, would steal a watermelon from

Poespaskraal’s fields to be enjoyed at their picnic. The carrots grown in the Sunnydale soil
are particularly sweet. We were told that ostriches wandered about too. Wheat was also

farmed. Each year, when conditions were right, they would collect their salt from the salt pan
in Noordhoek, which they would transport on the back of their horse-drawn wagon. (Figs. 2.7

& 2.8.)

Back in the day, the Old Homestead played an important role in the valley. It had Christmas
parties for all the local children, doubled as a church - one Sunday for Anglican worshipers

the next for the Dutch Reformed congregation, and had an open door policy where all locals
could come for advice, a remedy, or simply a cup of sugar. It hosted many a lonely sailor

during the war. It was the social hub as dances, plays and musical evenings were held there

regularly.