Heritage
Aberdeen History
People, places and heritage stories from Aberdeen.
Stories & places
42 listed01 · Deep time — Karoo fossil tracks and regional Stone Age evidence
Public heritage notes invite visitors to follow fossilised tracks in the rock around the Camdeboo.
02 · Before 1652 — Inqua and Camdeboo country
This district sits in the Camdeboo, long occupied by Khoekhoe groups including the Inqua.
03 · January 1689 — VOC barter with the Inqua
Ensign Isaq Schrijver (often written Shriver in later local histories), sent from the Cape by Governor Simon van der Stel, met Inqua under Heykon about 30 km north-west of today’s town, in the lee of the Onder-Sneeuberg, to barter for sheep and cattle.
04 · c. 1770 — Farmers on the Camdeboo plains
The Aberdeen heritage archive, citing SANParks, records white farmers settling the Camdeboo plains and the Sneeuberg around 1770, before Gordon’s 1777 panorama and long before the church town.
05 · 1777 — Gordon’s koppie
Captain Robert Jacob Gordon of the Dutch East India Company travelled the Kraai River near the later town and had a panorama of the Camdeboo Mountains drawn from a koppie about 7 km from Aberdeen, later called Gordon’s koppie, near the N9 towards Graaff-Reinet.
06 · 1817 — Brakkefontein title under Lord Charles Somerset
Karoo Heartland records that the original title deeds for the land under the later town were signed by the British governor, Lord Charles Somerset, in 1817.
07 · 10 Sep 1855 — Graaff-Reinet church council considers a new congregation
The NG congregation of Graaff-Reinet, the oldest in the Eastern Cape, considered a request to form a new congregation in this area.
08 · 16 Oct 1855 — Congregation separated at Cradock; Brakkefontein bought
The Presbytery of Graaff-Reinet, sitting at Cradock, formally separated the congregation.
09 · 21 Jan 1856 — First reader, sexton and schoolmaster
A Mr Swarts was appointed the town’s first reader, sexton and schoolmaster, at £50 a year, while the congregation was still searching for a settled minister.
10 · 1856–1857 — Church town laid out; plots sold
A small church was built and erven were surveyed.
11 · 1858 — Village board, then municipality
A village management board was formed in 1858 and developed into a municipality.
12 · 21 Sep 1862 — Gray accepts the first call
After several failed calls, Thomas Menzies Gray accepted the congregation on 21 September 1862, seven years after it was separated.
13 · 1862–1886 — First minister: Thomas Menzies Gray
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14 · c. 1882–1899 — Wesleyan / Methodist church
A Wesleyan (Methodist) church was built on the town plan (heritage listings often use 1882 or 1899).
15 · Late 19th century — NG tower and Victorian town
The NG church tower is widely described as about 50 m and the tallest congregation tower in South Africa.
16 · 14 Aug 1890 — Oswald Pirow born in Aberdeen
Oswald Pirow, later a lawyer and far-right cabinet minister, was born here on 14 August 1890.
17 · 1894–1898 — Anglican church, market hall, court and post office
Artefacts lists an Anglican church (1894), the market hall and Claremont House / Pagel House (1897), and the magistrate’s court and post office (1898), beside the Wesleyan church of 1882.
18 · 1895–1913 — Aberdeen Road station and stock fairs
Brown & Brown’s guides, quoted by a University of the Free State study, place Aberdeen Road station 21 miles from town, with a cart four times a week, two hotels and four churches.
19 · 1899–1902 — South African War in the district
Karoo Heartland records sharp division in town, and that 139 residents joined the Boer forces while still British subjects of the Cape Colony.
20 · 1900 — Aberdeen Afrikaanse Handelshuis
A local history cited by the Free State study dates an Afrikaanse Handelshuis to 1900, with 190 people putting in £10,000 of start-up capital.
21 · 5 Mar–6 Jul 1901 — Scheepers attacks the town and the station
The Aberdeen war-history page dates Commandant Gideon Scheepers’ attack on the town to 5 March 1901, with British and local colonial defenders.
22 · Oct 1901–12 May 1902 — Baxter, van Heerden, and the war memorials
The same page records that John Alexander Baxter, fighting with the Boer forces, was captured in British khaki, tried, and executed in October 1901.
23 · 1903–1941 — Jewish cemetery
Beside the main cemetery, the Aberdeen cemeteries page records a Jewish burial ground of 20 graves, with deaths from 1903 to 1941.
24 · 1904 — The Aberdeen Post / Pos
A weekly newspaper, The Aberdeen Post / Pos, started in 1904.
25 · 1905–1908 — NG church enlarged; tower finished
Artefacts dates the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk to 1864 and 1908.
26 · 1912 — Public school building
Artefacts dates the public school building to 1912.
27 · 1921 — Telephone exchange and wool growers
The centenary record, via the Free State study, dates a telephone exchange to 1921: 13 subscribers and one public phone.
28 · 1921–1948 — Barnard’s ministry, hall and hostel
Gert Johannes Barnard served 27 years.
29 · 1935 — High school opens
Viviers, quoted by the Free State study, dates the high school (grades 9 to 12) to 1935, with 132 pupils.
30 · 1949 — Church council cedes town-land rights
Almost a century after founding, the NG church council transferred remaining town-land rights to the town council, as also happened in Steytlerville.
31 · 1950s — Wilke’s zoo and the Victoria cinema
The Free State study, citing Viviers, describes Frank Wilke’s Aberdeen Zoo in the 1950s, drawing thousands of visitors a year and linked to Pagel’s Circus.
32 · 1960 — Census of a sparse district
Cook’s count, quoted by the Free State study, put the 1960 district at 8,913 people (urban 4,647) and 1.3 people per square kilometre, the sparsest part of the Eastern Cape Karoo in that survey.
33 · Water & Fonteinbos — Die Oog and the local nature reserve
Fonteinbos Nature Reserve (about 1 500 ha on the Kraai River, just outside town) is described in public tourism notes as both a reserve and the catchment of a spring, Die Oog, that supplies the town.
34 · 1983 — Luxolo Intermediate opens
The Aberdeen community history says Luxolo’s pupils first used church halls and other community rooms while families raised a building fund, before the education authorities took the project on.
35 · 1993 — Former white high school closes
The Free State study follows the school from 123 pupils in 1976 to 72 in 1986, 15 six years later, and five children in 1993, when it closed.
36 · 2001 — Census main places
The Free State study’s 2001 census total for Aberdeen is 7,083, split across Aberdeen, Lotusville and Thembalesizwe.
37 · 2010 — Heritage archive and tourism initiative
In 2010 residents from Aberdeen, Lotusville and Thembalesizwe launched an Aberdeen Heritage Archive and Tourism initiative.
38 · 2011 — Census main place
Census 2011 counted 7,162 people on about 15.4 km².
39 · 3 Aug 2016 — Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality
Aberdeen moved under EC101 after Camdeboo, Ikwezi and Baviaans merged.
40 · 2023–2024 — Camdeboo rename proposed, then refused
In 2023 a change from Aberdeen to Camdeboo was proposed.
41 · 6 Feb 2026 — Official name Xamdeboo gazetted
Government Gazette No.
42 · Schools & hospital — Public schools and the provincial hospital
Wikipedia lists Aberdeen Senior Secondary School, Luxolo Intermediate School, Camdeboo Primary and Aberdeen Primary School, and notes the Aberdeen Provincial Hospital in town.