The Battle of Lonehill
“Sometimes, thesardine.co.za has to venture inland. Even as far inland as The Big Smoke – Johannesburg. But it’s not all traffic and trouble…the fishing is actually loads of fun, as this papgooi showdown played out at the Lonehill Dam demonstrates.”
The Lonehill Koppie in Gauteng stands tall as a significant and historical landmark. It is one of the finest archeological sites in Africa being the custodian of artefacts and evidence of communities living there as far back as the 1600’s and earlier. Presumably the San or Bushmen occupied the site on which there is a large furnace below ground. It was most likely used to make cement from the ferricrete found all over the area. The koppies is made up of Tor rocks, which are weathered out veins that leave these huge rocks stacked up against one another.
During the Anglo-Boer war, it is reported, that a Dutch Squadron were trapped on Lonehill by the British. As the siege waged on, the Dutchmen’s bullets were running low, so they ingeniously started dislodging the huge rocks and raining them down over the Redcoats. It was a good tactic, typical of the guerilla warfare style the Dutch invented in that struggle, but it was not enough. With numbers, the British won over Lonehill Koppie.
To today. Just north of Lonehill Koppie, is Lonehill Loch…the scene of yet another epic battle.
