CHAPTER TWO
SETTLING IN
It had been the intention of John Moreland, Byrne’s agent in Natal, to establish the Minerva immigrants on lands located at Beaulieu (now named Richmond) and at the area called Byrne Valley, a few miles from Richmond, further up the Illovo river, where Joseph Byrne had earlier purchased, unseen, 31,000 acres for 4/- an acre.
As in other instances, however, numbers of the settlers refused the land allocated to them because inspection on the spot soon made it clear that holdings of 20 acres per person would be totally inadequate from which to make a living, except in the most favourable circumstances.
In the end only 55 families from the Minerva actually took possession of their allocations. It was the dry season of the year when these settlers arrived and much of the land offered to the newcomers was seen to be on rocky hillsides or in areas remote from any water, thus being quite unsuitable for the methods of cultivation available to them at that time. Even those who got to the scene first and chose the better portions of land were in some cases cheated out of it by unscrupulous surveyors engaged in laying out the area. Much of the better land was in fact reserved for Byrne and Company and not allocated to immigrants.
In England, Joseph Byrne had stated that all settlers would be provided with flat land, amply wooded and well watered. The fact was, however, that Byrne had no first-hand knowledge of the country and many of the farms bought for settler accommodation had not a stick of timber on them. For miles throughout the country there were no trees, only scrub bush and grass.
Because of complaints from numbers of settlers under the Byrne scheme, the Natal government eventually stepped in and offered to increase allocations in some areas up to 45 acres per person but, even so, many people declined to take up the offer.
Instead, some of them purchased Crown Lands in other districts, these lands having already been surveyed and advertised for sale in the Government Gazette at an upset price of 4/- an acre, free of transfer duty. On the Byrne allotments, settlers had to pay 2/3d an acre survey fees which, together with transfer fees, some of them could not afford.
On the other hand, some of the newcomers bought from speculators and absentee landlords who had foreseen the demand and had earlier bought up large tracts of land throughout the Colony from the original Boer owners who had left the country and moved over the Drakensberg to escape from British rule. These ex-Boer farms were generally of about 6,000 acres, and in a few cases, such farms, including well watered lands, were bought for only 6d an acre. The general opinion was that, in any case, Natal land was grossly over-valued at 4/- an acre, and that 1/- an acre would have been a more realistic assessment. It is no wonder that settlers were unhappy at having to pay Byrne’s agent 2/3d an acre in survey fees. It is likely that many of them did not expect to have to pay any fees at all.
Immigrants who did not take up their allocations and who had no means of buying other land took up jobs wherever they could find them or they set up in their former trades, because they had to find some way of supporting themselves and their families while trying to decide on their futures. There were no social welfare schemes to assist them and families had to look after themselves as best they could.
The Quested family group lived in tents at the Durban Bluff for quite a while before moving into more permanent quarters, and it is reasonable to suppose that during this period William and George took the opportunity of going up country to have a look at the 110 acres which had been allocated to the family at the Dunbar-on-Illovo Estate in the Byrne valley, and the two half-acre plots, No.’s 1 block T, and 21 block G, in the proposed village of Byrnetown. As it turned out, the village never got beyond the planning stage and it was not until 1973, over 120 years later, that any real steps were taken to develop the township. Then, roads were made, housing plots advertised for sale and houses were erected.
Title deeds for the lands allocated to settlers from the Minerva had to be taken up by July 1851, after payment of the survey fees and transfer costs, and if the fees were not paid by due date, the land was forfeited and reverted to J.C. Byrne and Co. It is on record that George Quested, on 25th July 1851, asked for an extension of time for payment of his fees and this indicates that he was not too affluent at that time. Nothing was found in the records about William in this regard, but it is clear that neither of them ever took possession of their lands. Instead, they rented two plots from the Durban authorities, erfs 11 and 12, at Congella and settled there for some years.
In 1850 Congella was a small village outside the precincts of Durban township, on the road to the south coast. This village, on the western side of the Durban Bay, had been founded by the Boers during the time of their short-lived Republic of Natalia, on a site which had formerly been one of Zulu King Shaka’s military kraals and, incidentally, was the place where the first cotton was grown in Natal by Boer settlers, in the year 1838.
At Congella, the Questeds built two mud and wattle cottages, of the type in common use at that time, quite roughly made with grass thatched roofs.
There, William (003)and George (253) got down to the business of making a living. William started farming operations but these could have been only on a small scale, probably more of a market gardening nature, because the two plots were only of one erf each, i.e. about one acre. It is on record that Congella was well known for its market gardens before 1857. William had possibly acquired some knowledge of gardening when he had formerly lived at Camberwell on the outskirts of London, and George, having possibly been a carter, may have worked on a farm in Kent.
History records that some of the market gardeners at Congella from time to time loaded their produce into rowing boats and went out to vessels anchored in the outer roadstead where they bartered their vegetables and fruit for imported goods.
Apart from farming or market gardening, William and George also became lime burners, making lime for sale. The lime was made from seashells, dug out from the shores of the Bay. To begin with, the seashells were calcined over open fires, but later a proper lime kiln was built on a site somewhere near where the graving dock in Durban harbour is situated today. This kiln remained in use for many years. Wood was used as fuel and was cut out from the surrounding bush or was carted in from wherever timber was being cleared prior to road making or house building.
Seashells, accumulated on the shores of the Bay over generations of time were many feet deep and provided a bountiful source of raw material. Previously, lime had been imported from Mauritius, which meant it was somewhat expensive. Local production was, therefore, an economic enterprise.
William and George Quested were not the first men to make lime locally because two other lime burners had been producing the material for some time. These were Walter Brunton at Cato Creek and Chas. McDonald at Congella. It was probably from these two that William and George got the idea for starting their project.
There was quite a demand for lime in those days because the flat areas at the coast were of heavy clay, not rich, and deficient in lime, thus requiring large amounts of lime fertiliser. Lime was also required for making whitewash to paint the inside and outsides of the mud and wattle dwellings and for making mortar for brick laying, because no Portland Cement was available in the country at that time. The first shipment of Portland Cement from England did not arrive at Port Natal until 1857. Another use for lime was in the manufacture of sugar, the production of which was just beginning.
In the Burgess Roll of 1854, the first in the history of the town of Durban, after Congella had that same year become incorporated into the Borough, William Quested was described as a farmer, and when George Quested got married in 1854 he declared on his marriage certificate that he was a carter. No doubt there was a good deal of carting to be done, carrying vegetables and fruit from Congella to Durban, collecting wood for the lime kiln, seashells from the beach and lime from where it was made to where it was to be employed.
Up to the time of the Byrne settlers in Natal, the farming community had dealt mainly in cattle and had not yet come to any conclusions as to which crops were most likely to succeed as a permanent agricultural mainstay. Many crops were tried on an experimental basis including coffee, tea, wheat, barley, rice, cotton, olives, sunflowers, indigo, flax, hemp, ginger, arrowroot and tobacco. Taking into account all the different factors involved, such as the varying nature of the soil, the climatic conditions, the cultivation methods and type of labour available, not to mention the numerous and unfamiliar pests which were encountered, none of these had proved entirely successful. Sugar cane seemed promising but had not yet come right into the foreground. Many settlers started off as peasant farmers or market gardeners where conditions allowed, mainly growing foodstuff for themselves and their families. This resulted in growing what was easiest to grow, which meant in practice that mealies, pumpkins and beans became the main crops. These, together with sweet potatoes, recently introduced into the country, figured largely on the daily menu.
A few years later the advent of small hand-operated mills suitable for grinding mealies into meal, led to maize meal porridge becoming the staple item of diet for Europeans as well as the natives. Mealie meal porridge was eaten hot or cold, fried, boiled or baked.
Beef was relatively cheap in those days at 2½ or 3d a pound, but goat meat was somewhat dearer at 6d. Mutton was scarce but other meat available was buck venison, bush pig and native fowls. Guinea fowl and red-legged partridge abounded in the surrounding countryside. Some settlers took to eating more exotic items such as python steaks, monkey flesh and cane rats. The latter were considered to be very tasty. Coffee was consumed more widely than tea, but some settlers, following native example, found that a local herb, Athrixia Phylicoides, made a nutritious and stimulating beverage when its leaves were dried and infused in a similar manner as for tea.
Some of the other commodity prices of those days are of interest. Wheat flour from the Cape was 38/- to 40/- for a 100 lb bag, maize 14/- for 180 lbs, bread 3¼d a pound loaf, butter 1/6d to 2/- a pound, milk 2d a pint, rice 3d a pound, coffee 1/2d, tea 3/-, sugar 5¾d, salt 11/- cwt, Cape wine 1/4 a bottle, Cape brandy 2/8¾d, and beer 1/4½d a bottle.
Oxen were £5 to £8 each, cows £3 to £4 each, sheep 18/- to 20/-, and horses about £18.
In their homes settlers had to use candles or candle lamps for lighting, candles often being home-made from tallow or beeswax. Paraffin for oil lamps did not become available in the Colony until 1859. It is assumed that early to bed and early to rise became the general rule for most households.
Water for domestic purposes was from springs or wells, or was carried from the nearest stream, and cooking was done over open fires, wood for the purpose being cut from the surrounding bush, or in some cases bought from native women who brought it in bundles to the door. In some areas where there was little or no brushwood to be had, cow dung was dried and used as fuel.
Although eucalyptus gum trees had already been planted up-country by Mr A. Clarence, from seeds brought to the Colony by him after the frontier wars in the Eastern Cape in 1846, and from seeds brought direct from Australia by Joseph Dicks in that same year, and wattle trees had been grown from seed obtained from Australia by John Vanderplank of Camperdown, the extent of such plantings was very small until many years later and in most parts Natal as a whole was poorly off for timber except for thorn trees. Mr Clarence gave seeds to many people but the fact that gum tree seeds (2/- a packet) and seedlings were advertised for sale in Pietermaritzburg in 1855-1857 suggests that these trees were not very widespread at that time.
It was under these conditions that the Questeds settled down and lived for some years at Congella. Life was not devoid of excitement at times, and danger from wild animals and snakes was not yet a thing of the past. The two dogs, said to have been brought out from England on the Minerva, were both taken by leopards while round and about the homesteads at Congella. The roaring of lions was heard in the neighbourhood up to 1854, and elephants used to roam around the houses at night. Legend has it that repairs to the verandas and roofs of the Quested cottages were made necessary from time to time because elephants had tugged away at veranda supports or had pulled out some of the grass thatch while browsing around on their moonlight forays. George Quested’s brother-in-law, Henry Gordge, together with a Hottentot hunter, are recorded as having shot and killed two elephants in the Berea bush just above the Congella chapel, and Dick King’s brother was killed by elephants at Umlaas.
William Quested’s lime kiln was some distance away from the cottages and a story that has been handed down says that one evening, when it was nearly dark, he was on his way home after there had been some heavy rain and when he came to the swampy vlei between him and home, he found it under about two feet of water. Taking off his boots and rolling up his trouser legs, he started to wade through the swamp. As he neared the middle he spotted what appeared to be an animal perched on a mound directly in his path. When he got close, he saw, to his dismay, that it was a leopard, but that did not deter him for long. He flung his boots straight at the animal which, not liking this sudden attack, slid off the mound into the water and swam away, leaving William to recover his boots and continue on his homeward journey, thanking his lucky stars that for once he had a leopard at a disadvantage.
In 1851, William’s sister, Harriet Susannah Quested, married Thomas Whittaker (349), and in the following year his other sister, Caroline Emma Quested (354), married John Webb (355). Then, on 20th January 1853, Mrs Harriet Susannah Quested (002), mother of William, George, Harriet and Caroline, and widow of Thomas Quested, arrived at Port Natal from London together with her youngest daughter, Eliza Ann (356), in the brig Roscoe. It can be imagined there was a joyful family reunion.
The Widow Quested, as she became known, made up her mind that she would live in Durban itself and for this purpose rented a small plot in West Street extension, where she remained for a number of years.
In September 1854, George Quested married Phebe Gordge (254) of Congella. It has been said that the other Questeds did not favour this marriage but for what particular reason is not known.
William’s wife, (our great grandmother) Martha (004), died in childbirth on 1st November 1856 when she was 36 years old. The child died too. Martha was the first of the family to depart this life in Natal. She was buried in the cemetery in West Street. About two years after Martha’s death, William and George and their families moved from Congella to the Isipingo district about 11 miles down the coast from Durban. Here they started farming in 1858. What decided the move is not known for certain, but it is on record that an approach by the Quested and Gordge families to the Durban Borough Council in 1857, applying for leases of certain lands at Congella had been turned down, on the grounds that these lands were likely to increase in value because of the general development in the area. Thus the land was not available for farming. It would appear that William had made some money out of the lime burning business and it is believed that he leased the lime kiln to another person for some time before selling it a few years later. Mr J.W. Harris was offering lime for sale from the Congella lime works in 1862.
William settled on a property at Isipingo which he bought from Dick King and he also purchased a sub-division of about 1,000 acres from James Patullo at Stoney Hill, some miles inland from Isipingo, which he rented to his brother George.
George’s two elder children were baptised at St James Church, Isipingo, before the end of 1858, and it would appear that both families were established in the district by that time.