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Martin Prout
Source: National Library of South Africa Bulletin, Volume 70, Issue 1, June 2024
Is there any more iconic image in South African history than the bullock cart? It has appeared in paintings and drawings as early as Van Riebeeck’s time, and later on film with the advent of photography.
The horse-drawn cart was an entirely local invention. “The first South African ox-drawn cart was not an import – it was a completely indigenous product. More importantly, it resulted from a fusion of cultures – the horse-drawn cart came from the new white settlers, and the oxen from the indigenous Khoikhoi people,” writes José Berman.
The wagons were also home to those who traveled by wagon and stayed there for months. The town was designed to accommodate these iconic modes of transportation. They even played a role in defense.
(1) Jose Berman, Towards the distant horizon: the story of the South African oxcartMan and Rousseau, Cape Town, 1988
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