Dive into the history of the museum and see who are the people behind the success of the Anglo-Boer War Museum.
Dive into the history of the Anglo-Boer War Museum
A society that acts as the liaison between the Museum and the people
See who are the people behind the success of the war museum
Dive into the history of the museum and see who are the people behind the success of the Anglo-Boer War Museum.
Dive into the history of the Anglo-Boer War Museum
A society that acts as the liaison between the Museum and the people
See the people behind the success of the Anglo-Boer War Museum
Read what happened in some of the biggest moments in South African history, where monuments are based and why they exist. Take a walk through history in our Exhibits and ready more about the struggles of the women that lived through the war.
Dive into the history of the war
Read more about our Collections
Read more about what the National Women's Memorial commemorates, as well as about the monument itself.
Take a virtual walk through the Heritage Route
Take a virtual walk through the Heritage Route
Dive into the history of the war
Take a virtual walk through the Heritage Route
Read more about our Collections
Take a walk through history in our Exhibitions
Read more about what the National Women's Memorial commemorates, as well as about the monument itself.
Search our database for more information on the war
Register and search our whole Document and Photo Archive collection.
Read through our Publications & Articles
A meeting point for all research around the war
Search our database for more information on the war
Register and search our whole Document and Photo Archive collection.
Read through our Publications & Articles
Recovering a history of black concentration camps near Kimberley from the South African War (1899-1902)
Dr Garth Benneyworth
“They are in great poverty and misery and our visit was a comfort to them. Many are dying from day to day – what is to become of the survivors I cannot think. Between the Dutch and the English they have lost everything, and there being no political party interested in their destiny, they ‘go to the wall’ as the weakest are bound to do.” – Reverend WHR Brown, a missionary who visited the Dry Harts concentration camp in September 1901.
During the South African War of 1899-1902, the most well-known human violation of Human Rights, were the destruction of private property by the British forces and the subsequent establishment of concentration camps for white and black South African civilians (mostly who were women and children), by the British military authority. The Dry Harts camp in the Northern Cape was established for black farmworkers, and was just one of many of these camps that were created by the British military authority. The Human Rights violations in these concentration camps eventually lead to the deaths of thousands of the concentration camps’ inhabitants. The world must remember and guard against the suffering that war causes and the subsequent violation of Human Rights that take place during such terrible times.
The Online Exhibition entitled: Traces: History of black concentration camps near Kimberley from the South African War (1899-1902) was compiled by Dr Garth Benneyworth.
Dr. Garth Benneyworth is a Senior Research Associate: Department of Historical Studies, at the University of Johannesburg and Head of Department: Heritage Studies at Sol Plaatje University. His international experience of the Heritage Sector included developing and curating numerous exhibitions including the Nelson Mandela National Museum, Liliesleaf: A Place of Liberation, Chief Albert Luthuli Museum, Magersfontein Battlefield Museum, Life in the Camp (Paris) and the Voortrekker Monument. He specialises in War Studies and the Heritage of Conflict with a focus on the Armed Struggle of the Liberation Movements and the South African War, in particular the black concentration camps of that conflict. From 1999 to 2018, he located thirteen of these historic camp terrains and pioneered the first ever-archaeological surveys on black concentration camps in South Africa.
The article by Dr Benneyworth can be found on the Museum’s website under the Research – Journals and Articles tab.