Page 50 - KBHA BULLETIN 6
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manufacture of shell lime during the colonial period. Kalk Bay and the Point have been
subject to extensive development activities so the survival of in-situ archaeological material
from this period is unlikely.
Simon’s Town was established as the winter anchorage for ships in 1741. Provisions for
Simon’s Town were transported by road to both Muizenberg and Kalk Bay and then taken in
small boats, sent from Simon’s Bay, across to Simon’s Bay which was inaccessible by road
for large wagons. Some locals claim that a signal cannon was positioned on Trappies Kop
above the harbour.
After 1806 the British colonial administrative system opened up land to private ownership
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and distribution and many grants were registered during the early 19 century. An interesting
diagram of local grants is appended to a letter dated 20 June 1837 (Cape Archives M1/2675),
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and coastal properties and grants from Muizenberg to Fishhoek are depicted in a late 19
century map. (Cape Archives M3/385).
Erf 90005 was the first formal land grant on the Point and was made in 1808 to Messrs
Cloete, Reitz and Anderson, who were engaged in profitable commercial fishing. The survey
diagram of the time depicts the rocky point and indicates that a small "huis" stood on the
north-west corner. (Fig. 2.11). The survey diagram made in 1846 shows the arc of
fishermen’s cottages and a fishery building already in place on erf 90005.
After being sold several times, in 1848 erf 90005 passed into the hands of the Cape of Good
Hope Fishing, Whaling and Sealing Company. Whaling was a prominent activity in False
Bay with activities taking place from Kalk Bay, Muizenberg and St. James. In 1805 over 300
whales were landed in Kalk Bay but by the 1850s the industry had almost ceased. A
photograph dated to the 1870s shows whalebone markers on the beach, and a similar one is
marked as a property boundary beacon on a later plan. (Fig. 2.3). In 1916 the owners of the
fishery called themselves the Kalk Bay Fish & Land Company, and a little later it became
Irvin & Johnson property. Local people still refer to the Point as "die Kompanie".
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