If you head
down to the published coordinates today, you will find yourself at
the edge of a sprawling industrial area called Woodstock, just
outside Cape Town. If you were there on 10 January 1806, at 4 o
clock in the afternoon, you would have witnessed history. Here you
would find a small patch of ground with an old gnarled milkwood
tree, the thatched cottage you would see nearby was built in the
seventeenth century. It belongs to Pieter van Papendorp who owns
all the land between the Castle and Salt River. The cottage would
stand there for many more years, until 1935 to be exact.
This
milkwood tree, miraculously preserved, goes back to the early
1500's when it was known as the "Old Slave Tree". A certain Rachel
Bester that lived in the area recorded that she had seen the slave
dealers proclaiming the qualities of their human goods under that
tree. She also wrote about slaves that were hanged from the
branches during her childhood. The oldest known record of this tree
dates back to 1509 when 64 of d'Almeida's Portuguese sailors were
massacred by the Hottentots near the tree.
Coming back
to that historic afternoon in 1806. The British invaded the Cape,
by landing at Losperd's Bay just 4 days ago.
(GC1JEDR). General Janssens, the Governor of the Cape moved
northwards with a small force to meet the enemy
(GC1JEEF). Those of us that stayed behind in Cape Town got news
of the Battle of Blaauwberg, that happened day before
yesterday.(GC1JEEW).
General Janssens retreated to the Hottentots Holland Mountains, and
the British forces marched unopposed towards Cape Town. The British
forces reached the outskirts of Cape Town on 9 January.
Lieutenant
Colonel von Prophalow who assumed the duties of commandant of Cape
Town while the Governor went into battle wanted to spare the town
and its civilian population from attack, and sent out a white flag.
He handed over the outer fortifications to Sir David Baird, and
terms of surrender were negotiated later in the day. We were all
nervous, and uncertain about our immediate future here in Cape
Town. We had nothing to fear though for the terms of the
capitulation were reasonably favourable to the Batavian soldiers
and citizens of the Cape. Here under the old milkwood tree on the
10th of January 1806 we saw the Capitulation of Cape Town and the
Peninsula being signed by Lieutenant Colonel von Propalow, Major
General Baird and Commodore Popham. In this treaty, the property of
the Batavian Government got transferred to the commanders of the
British Forces. As of this moment the Cape Colony, and eventually
all of South Africa would be under the British Flag.
You were
there that day. You saw the treaty being signed under the old
Treaty Tree before they locked it into a small container
and took it away on horseback.
This cache used to be a Traditional cache, but kept on
disappearing. It has now been changed to a Multi cache. You will
find all the clues you need at the old Treaty Tree. The cache is
hiding away at an old Fortification. To reach the cache involves a
bit of a hike, but it is not too strenuous though. Probably the
easiest approach will be from the Rhodes Memorial, but there are
other options as well, You can choose any angle of attack,
depending on how well you know the mountain.
The cache is at S33 ' CD ' FG3 and
E018 ' AB ' EHI
Beneath the tree you will see a stone with missing
plaques.
A = Missing plaques
Look at the locked gate nearest to the tree.
B = Spear points at the top of the
gate
Go to the sign.
C = Rainbow Colours behind Table
Mountain
D = Don't blocks in the second row
Telephone Number on the sign
0E1 - F90 G9HI