Oude Molen Eco Village History

Riverlodge Backpackers is situated on the Oude Molen Village Estate, a large tract of land nestled next to the sensitive wetlands of the Black River in Cape Town. Steeped in history, the Village continues to make history by sustaining itself and the resident community through micro-enterprise.

History

The area was originally used by Khoi pastoralists for cattle grazing before colonial occupation in 1652, with the confluence of the Black and Liesbeek Rivers playing an important role in Khoi ceremonies.

In 1693 land along the Liesbeek River was granted by the Company for the construction of a mill, subsequently to be known as Molenvliet. With the granting of land to the free burghers, the Liesbeek Valley became the wheat producing area of the early Cape settlement, providing food to the castle and its citizenry. The first recorded land transfer was that of Valkenberg Farm in 1716. Molenvliet was sold in about 1725 and the mill on it (probably a water mill) replaced by the Oude Molen windmill, the first windmill in South Africa. It is believed that the mill was eventually destroyed by a vicious South-Easter. The farm however remained operational.

On the 4 July 1885, King Cetswayo, was captured by the British in Zululand and brought to the Cape. Because of conditions at the Castle he was kept as "state guest " at Oude Molen while awaiting transfer to England to meet Queen Victoria. While imprisoned at Oude Molen the British Princes Albert Victor and George Fredrick Ernest Albert visited him during their stay in Cape Town in 1881.

The premises were then used as military barracks until the 1920's, which saw the transfer and construction of the land for use as a coloured psychiatric hospital. It is referred to as such in the Cape Archives concerning the sale of Valkenberg to the City Council in 1943 ( CAD3/CT 4/2/1/1/667 ).

It seems that the planning approach by Cape Town officials after the 1901 Plague epidemic favored the resettlement of non white residents of Cape Town into areas on the periphery of the city, such as Maitland Plague camp, Ndabeni and later Athlone, Bokmakerrie and Langa Plague camps. All these areas were across the Black River from the City Center.

The Black River seemed to have been a "racial barrier" in the planning of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Cape Town.

Rationalization in the late 1990's saw the closure of the Eastern side of the Hospital and the transfer of the land from the Department of Health to the department of Property Management in 1999.

While under the custodianship of the Department of Health the buildings were heavily vandalized, stripped and gutted until Project Development Services, a small private company, secured an interim mandate to maximize the use of the property initially under the auspices of the Friends of Valkenberg organization, to generate income for the Valkenberg Hospitals patient program. The short term leasing out of the buildings to tenants involved with micro-enterprises, was one of the steps, which contributed towards the exploration and creation of an inclusive and holistic vision for the premises/complex.