The Jock of the Bushveld Macmac Memorial

Memorial Site of Wagon Rescue

The Macmac Memorial was constructed to remind future generations of the inhabitants of the Panorama Region as well as discerning tourists exploring the beautiful Panorama Route from Sabie through Pilgrims Rest and Graskop, that they would likely be making acquaintance with a fascinating location where a few important historical pioneering events took place. It is located approx. 18kms from Sabie on the R532 towards Graskop.

Percy Fitzpatrick, who later became a knighted legend in his own lifetime, as an author, politician, farmer and company director, came to seek his fortune on the goldfields of Pilgrims Rest and Macmac as a young buck. He discovered, as so many others did, that most of the available shallow lying gold had already been mined out, and that the vicinity was no longer a shallow Eldorado.

A turning point in his period of extreme hardship occurred at the site of the present Macmac Memorial, which was erected 103 years later by the Lowveld Diggers and Transport Riders Society.

A depressed and penniless Fitzpatrick had left the cabin of an Australian benefactor Teddy Blacklow, halfway down Pilgrims Creek, on a Sunday morning in September of 1884, expecting to reach the Macmac South diggings by sundown.

After surviving a devastating and violent hailstorm, by sheltering under an overhanging  rock on the intervening ridge separating the two valleys, he reached the crest of the Burgher’s Pass, from where he began his long descent to Macmac. When he reached the last rise overlooking the Macmac drift, he was confronted by a frightening spectacle.

A transport wagon was trapped in a raging torrent, which had resulted from the heavy rain caused by the same storm that had caught Fitzpatrick in the hills. The bewildered oxen had been abandoned by the “voorloper”, and the whole rig was already heading aimlessly downstream towards the Macmac Falls.

Without hesitation the sturdy young Fitzpatrick hastened down the wagon track towards the drift, doubtless shedding his few possessions as he ran, before dashing headlong into the turbulent and angry floodwaters, in an effort to reach the “voorloper riem”, which he managed to grasp, and through great exertion was able to direct the team to the river bank, and eventually lead the oxen out thereby saving the whole rig from certain disaster.

The grateful owner and transport rider outspanned at the first level spot, which was where the Memorial is now located. Both men dried themselves off, and settled down to an informal meal. Fitzpatrick felt for the first time on the goldfields, that he had truly earned his keep.

According to Fitzpatrick’s Diary, the transport rider must have introduced him to R. T. M. James who gave him his first job as a counter hand at the “Matit Store”, just behind the ex-McLachlan stone house. J. B. Taylor mentions meeting him there, so raw to his job that he did not even know the price of a bucket of mealie meal. However his natural charm and gift of the gab soon enabled him to strike up friendships with the local diggers and transport riders who frequently visited the store.

One of these was Hugh Lanion Hall of Mataffin fame, whom he met for the first time at the original digger’s camp, which by then had taken on the name of Graskop, after the farm on which it stood.

The pages of his diary which have survived show that he had many friends – George Fullerton, Jim Taylor, Ted Sievwright, Powys, Gibbons (always known as “Gubbins”), Jim Donaldson, Hugh Hall, Ted Blacklaw – those are the names that occur most frequently. Many of them were to remain his friends for the rest of his life. But at that time most of them, with the possible exception of Taylor, were as hard up as he was.

The name Macmac had been transferred to a new southerly camp, which provided living quarters for the diggers employed by the company which was then carrying out organised alluvial digging at the big hole approximately 2km. south of the Memorial.

Interestingly enough, and true to Fitpatrick’s natural sunshine nature, he was not only an author but something of a poet as well. later years when he was odd jobbing around Barberton after he lost his boots, he wrote a clever little poem on the stock in a general dealer’s shop. The poem is featured at the bottom of the article.

FEATURES OF THE MACMAC MEMORIAL

1. A Three Coloured Paved, circular Floor Map 6.6m in diameter, showing the locality within a radius of 1km of the centrally placed wagon wheel, and inlaid with appropriate ceramic name-tiles. The map illustrates the route of the old roads of 1885 in relation to te Macmac River and those of its tributaries closest to the Memorial.

2.  A Toposcope consisting of dark-green place-names inlaid into the brown border of the circular floor, which when sighted over the boss of centrally-placed wagon-wheel indicates the precise direction of the particular place or  topograghical feature.

3.  Seating with backrest constructed with local shale, made around the semicircle to enable visitors to relax while viewing the Memorial and local Macmac scene.

4. A ¾ Size Replica of Australian Edwin Blacklow’s tomb stone with its heart-warming tribute from his fellow diggers has been incorporated into the center of the seating’s back-rest. The original is to be found in the Pilgrim’s Rest’s old cemetery.

5.  A Roll of Honour listing the most prominent digger’s and transport rider’s names has been laid into a convenient quadrant of the floor and also the origin of the name Macmac.

6.  A Moat, Tree-ferns, Local rocks, and a grass verge have been used to embellish the Memorial’s design. The moat defines the outer rim of the Memorial, while retaining the run-off water from the convex floor-map required to irrigate the 8 tree-ferns planted therein. The attractive local rocks have been placed and spaced to enhance the Memorial’s perspective when viewed from the entrance. A suitable grass type provides an attractive and effective ground cover.

7.  A Jock of the Bushveld Waymark in the form of an original bronze “Jock Trek 1885” plaque has been mounted in the topmost of a cairn of rocks to act as a sentinel for the Memorial. The Waymark also proclaims that Jock actually trod the linking road on which the Memorial has been constructed.

THE FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN HE HAS COME !
Come along citizens, come and see
The stock of the famous J.H.P
Every article under the sun
Of guaranteed excellence every one
From a white elephant down to a mouse
All to be had at the Pilgrim’s House.
Take what you like – one or the heap
Retail, wholesale – equally cheap.
Frying pan, saucepan, gridiron, pot,
Good and as cheap as the Lord knows what.
Native gold, bought and sold,
Toys for the young, goods for the old.
Fruit preserves, jellies and jams,
Potted tongues and Limerick hams,
Tea and coffee, sugar and rice
Mustard, pepper, curry and spice,
Pate de foie gras, cafe-au-lait,
Swiss milk of the best as the labels say.
Pipes in quantities, baccy and snuff
All varieties – more than enough.
Ploughs and harrows, scythes and sickles
Worcestershire sauce and Morton’s pickles;
Long-handled shovels, forks and picks
Holloway’s ointment and wonderful pills,
Sarsaparilla and syrup of squills.
Eno’s fruit salts, Rough on Rats,
Paper collars and smasher hats,
Cups and saucers, dishes and plates
Chairs and tables, scuttles and grates.
Flour and mealies, corn and meal
Needles and thread (by skein or reel).
Say what you like, do what you can
Prices to suit the most miserly man.
Coats and waistcoats, breeches and shirts,
Ladies’ arrangements, dresses and skirts
Trousseaux complete from Madam Elise’s
Steel crinolettes and fancy chemises.
Knives and axes, carpenters’ tools
Spirit levels and two-foot rules,
Pigskin saddles, hunting crops
Riding breeches and Wellington tops.
Short and bulky – lanky and slim
Eccentric figures are nothing to him
Slight or stout, dandy or lout,
JHP will fit you all out !

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Take a scintilating Jock of the Bushveld and general History Tour with us through the Escarpment, Lowveld and Bushveld whilst savouring the real magic of some of a transport riders experiences ! Contact us on
013 764 1177

Email at johnt@tripsza.com