history of sutherland south africa
About Sutherland in the Northern Cape of South Africa
350 km on the tar road from Cape Town and 1550 meters above sea level lies the beautiful town Sutherland, situated in the Northern Cape. It forms part of the Karoo Hoogland Municipality which includes Williston (145 km away) and Fraserburg (110 km). The town was established in 1855 with everything focused around the Dutch Reformed Church.

In 1872 there were 19 houses, with a community of 138. Today it is mainly a sheep farming area with 3648 inhabitants. Farms are usually very large - 5000 ha +.

There are two large shops in town, four restaurants, two pertol/diesel service station, a butcher, a farmers Coop, two schools and one bank (Standard Bank). All basic products can be bought locally.

The average minimum temperature is 3 degrees Celcius over the whole year and the average maximum is 20.5 degrees Celcius.

Some of the shops still follow the long practised tradition of closing from 13h00 - 14h00 each day.

Historically Information about Sutherland in South Africa
The Louw Museum: Sutherland is the birth place of the two very famous poets and writers N.P. Van Wyk Louw and W.E.G Louw. One can only relate in Afrikaans to try and understand their passion for the town and its people.

Just outside town is a large dam of which N.P. writes:

'Nog eenmaal wil ek in die skemeraand
Weer op ons dorp en by ons dorpsdam staan,
Weer met my rek op in die donker skiet,
En Luister, en al word ek seer en dof,
Hoe die klien klippe ver weg in die riet
Uit donker in die donker water plof.'

Tulips: Not only in Amsterdam, but also in Sutherland! The growing of Tulips started many years ago by a Dutch Reform Reverend Ds Brink. The farmer Aret and Lampies Lambrechts on the farm Koornlandskloof were the largest tulip famers in the area. A big selection can today only be found at Sterland, Baroe and Skrywershuisie

Normally the bulbs are planted at the end of April. Tulips flower in September, and because of our extreme cold, little or no pest control is needed. The beautiful flowers are cut off and not used - only the bulbs. The flowers are sold locally to people who market cut flowers.

Places of interest in Sutherland
In the Town of Sutherland, there are other historical landmarks that may be of interest:

• The Old English Cemetery
• The Jewish Cemetery
• Dutch Reformed Church

and with the nine planets of the solar system, several "Plinths" were built along the 1,2km main street of Sutherland on scale to give the visitor an impression of the distance between the planets as well as the size of the planet to the size of the sun.