History of Tarkastad

Tarkastad is located in the Winterberg Mountains, about halfway between Cradock and Queenstown. The town is known for its San rock paintings, its beautiful Karoo scenery, and its role in the Second Boer War.

The first people to occupy the area around Tarkastad were the San, who left an abundance of rock art paintings in Grootvlei just north of the town. The first farmers settled in Tarkastad in 1795 and built watermills, inns and both a Dutch Reformed and Presbyterian Church.

The name Tarkastad is believed to come from the Khoi-San word Traka (meaning women) or the Celtic word Tarka (meaning otter) and the Afrikaans word Stad (meaning city). The fact that the town is overlooked by Martha and Mary; two peaks that look like two women resting after a hard day’s work, also lends to the name.

Two Great Trek leaders, Andries Potgieter and Piet Retief, farmed here for a short while. After the Dutch farmers decided to accompany their leaders on the Great Trek, the English 1820 settlers moved in, and in 1862, Tarkastad was established as a church centre and became a municipality in 1864.

Elands River Poort is located 24 km to the NNW of Tarkastad, where the Battle of Elands River (1901) was fought during the Second Boer War. The 17th Lancers C Squadron was under the command of Captain Sandeman, a cousin of Winston Churchill. The War Cemetery at Modderfontein has the graves of British Soldiers killed in the Battle.

A family house in Tarkastad was the birthplace of anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko.