A few kilometers from Geelbek was the Saldanha Bay post house (Oudepos) and according to documents dating back to 1708, an elephant on the farm Geelbeksfontein killed one of the post staff.

This was a loan farm, which was used for several years as a cattle station by Stephen Verwey. He was one of the Cape Brandy lessees. After his death “Geelbeksfontein” was transferred to his widow Aletta van Es, who sold it in the same year.

Records show that from 1912 onwards the farm has been known simply as Geelbek. After a third attempt, Pieter van Breda sold the farm in 1918 to James Benjamin Taylor who sold the farm two years later to the company “Roseneath Estate”.

The Stables

In 1920 the farm belonged to Governor General ( Could refer to a CEO of a Company ), Henry de Villiers Steytler, who was responsible for large-scale extensions and alterations to the original house. Steytler kept horses and bred with mules for the British. The stables, close to the main building, are now accommodation for educational groups.

Van Breda Cottage at the Stables

Henry Steytler had the lagoon dredged to allow boats to come closer to the homestead for his famous parties, which lasted for weeks. Steytler’s wine cellar was reputed to be the largest in South Africa at the time. This was an indication not so much of wine production on the farm, but the quantity of liquor on hand for social occasions.

The homestead on the farm Geelbek, which was declared a National Monument, is one of ten within the farmyard (which has been restored), dating back to the period between 1786 and 1920.

Geelbek Main Building

Saldanha Bay was known even before Jan van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape in 1652. Loan farms had been allocated in this arid region as far back as the beginning of the 18th century.

Every month about 10 000 salted fish were shipped from the lagoon to the Cape of Good Hope to be consumed by the slaves while building the castle and other Company buildings.

In 1785 Governor van der Graaf staked out the most Northerly corner of the district with a slate beacon on the farm Geelbeksfontein. This VOC beacon can still be seen on route to the bird hide on the way to Geelbek.

VOC Beacon – Dutch East Indian Company

In 1927 the farm was resurveyed to clarify uncertainties regarding the position of beacons. On the land survey’s map, prepared at the time, a complex of buildings are shown and hundred years previously the “Vischhuis” was indicated. In 1931 ownership changed several times until the South African Nature foundation bought it in 1987 and incorporated it into the West Coast National Park.

The Restoration

The restoration of the homestead was made possible by a donation from Goldfields of South Africa. The entire restoration project was entrusted to the Stellenbosch architectural firm of Dennis Moss & Partners. The following design guidelines applied to the buildings at Geelbek, namely:

• The preservation of cultural heritage;
• Adapting the structure to new functions and requirements;

As a result of the remoteness of the area, very little original historical material is available to assist in the determination of the historical developments that the building complex went through. Accordingly the preservation action for these buildings was largely based on verbal information, surveyor’s documents and historic data from similar buildings in the region. A solution had to be found to combine the historical, visual and practical without resulting in unmotivated contradictions.

Geelbek was restored and converted into an environmental centre with educational and conference facilities. Overnight self-catering accommodation for over hundred people, individually and in groups, was also provided, mostly in the renovated stables.

Within the concept of information and education facilities, it was justified to retain the Cape vernacular architecture that originates from various periods. Examples are the back stoep and the flat roofed additions in the main building which houses the Geelbek Restaurant and tea garden. Sleeping quarters of the slaves can still be seen in the main homestead, as well as the slave bell outside in the tea garden.

The restoration of these buildings conforms to the simplicity of building structures for which this area is renowned. Consequently the gables were kept plain an pointed. Where it was not possible to determine what the other buildings on the farmstead looked like in their original form, restorations were undertaken within historical framework of the time.

Together with the preserved environment, this building complex reflects an image of a cultural heritage, which spans a period of over 300 years.

Saldanha Bay

Joris van Spilbergen documented Saldanha Bay as far back as 1601. He was in the service of the VOC, but later turned pirate. Between 1601 and the establishment of the colony at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, the French had already made use of Saldanha Bay. On 17 October 1652, the “Goede Hoop” visited Saldanha. The skipper T. Turver and bookkeeper F. Verburg were dispatched to investigate the possibilities of trade with the Khoina (Chochoqua) – a Khoi tribe, who lived in this area.

On Schaapen island the two men found 2 733 dried sealskins, ostrich feathers and hippopotamus teeth left by French during the previous year. Apart from the safety of Saldanha Bay, it was also valuable in providing basic necessities for the colony. In March 1657, sailors plucked down from 700 Cape gannets to fill cushions and feather beds at the newly established colony. Guano was found in abundance and collected from the islands for use in the new Company gardens in the Cape.

The Bay was also seen as an excellent place to repair ships. For 143 years the VOC used Saldanha Bay for this purpose and a list of such ships are compiled in groups of 50 periods and are as follows:

1652-1699 (25 ships repaired),
1700-1749 (17 ships repaired)
1750-1795 (19 ships repaired).

The ships that were in danger and entered the Bay were compiled in the same way.

1652-1699 (51 ships repaired),
1700-1749 (76 ships repaired),
1750-1795 (13 ships repaired).

In 1666 a post was established at Oudepost 1. The ruins at Oudepost are the oldest remaining example of a fort built in this way. The site of this post is situated at Kraal Bay. Dr. Dave Rogers found Eve’s footprint in 1997 on a site near Oudepost 1. It is the oldest known footprint of modern man in the world, and dates back to 117 000 years ago.

Etienne de Flacourt, director-general of the French East Indian Company, visited Saldanha Bay on two occasions. The first was in 1648 and the second time around 1655. In 1658 he published the “ La Dictoinnaire de la Langue de Madagascar” in which a list of nearly four hundred words and expressions from the Khoi language was documented. Three Khoi names appear as his sources, they are: Saldan, Barraba and Coubaba. This is probably the first Khoi dictionary printed. He also documented fauna and flora in the area of Oudepost during his last visit in 1655.

A second dictionary was written by a German student George Frederick Wreede. It was a Khoi- Dutch dictionary.

Oudepost was the official outpost and was called the Saldahna Baaij outpost and was situated south of where Langebaan town is today.

A second house was built 60 years later, around 1729/30, in the bay between Konstabelskop and Vlaeberg. Close to the outpost was a waterhole that delivered about 72 litres of water, while an average ship used about 563 liters. In 1737 a total of seven soldiers was stationed at “Nieuwe Post” as it was called.