Well-known historian and author Vincent Carruthers will be at Toppieshoek on Saturday, 13 April, to talk about the heritage treasures of Toppieshoek.
Toppieshoek is home to the Broederstroom early Iron Age site c350 AD. The first black African immigrants arrived in this region and are the ancestors of the majority of South Africans today. They brought along farming skills and created settlements rather than hunt and gather. Thatched huts, iron smelting and forging define the history of this site.
The Leiden Southern Station Observatory (1954) is another heritage treasure. It showcases the Franklin-Adams telescope which discovered the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. Sir Patrick Moore said it probably took the best pictures of the Halley Comet in 1910. Rockefeller Twin Astrograph has two identical parallel 16-inch photographic telescopes to study variable stars.
The talk starts at 10:30 at the Broederstroom Toppieshoek Adventure Campsite. Entry is free. Refreshments at own cost.
Book at Derick@machbookings.co.za.