20 October 1899 - The Battle of Talana - Talana Hill Memorial.
The first major Battle of the Anglo-Boer War. The Boers under the command of Lukas Meyer, occupied Talana Hill through the night of the 19th October 1899. Early the following morning, when the mist lifted, they shelled the British camp on the opposite side of Dundee town. The British retaliated and attacked the Boers on Talana Hill, forcing the boers to retreat. Despite suffering significant causalities, including their commanding officer, Maj Gen Sir William Penn-Symons, due to murderous crossfire from Lennox Hill to their right, the British were able to defeat the Boers on Talana Hill. However they were still unable to capture the Mpathi hill to the left and rather than suffer defeat the British troops evacuated the town of Dundee 2 days later to avoid a major threat from the advancing Boer forces. Dundee was occupied by the Boers and renamed Meyersdorp for the 7 months which they occupied the town.
The cache is placed on the upper part of the hill and from here you can see the Hill of Mpathi to your right and Lennox hill to your left, Below is the town of Dundee and the Talana Museum which at the time of the battle was the farm owned by one of the founders of Dundee, Peter Smith. Also visible below, is the cairn marking the spot where Maj Gen Penn-Symons was mortally wounded.