Thoughts on South Africa

In this compelling collection of late‑19th‑century essays, a well‑travelled Englishwoman recounts her eight years living among the Boers of South Africa. Written between 1890 and 1892 while she was based at the remote railway station of Matjesfontein, the pieces blend travelogue, natural history and cultural commentary. The author’s keen eye captures the rugged beauty of the highveld, the rhythms of frontier towns, and the uneasy politics that surrounded the growing tensions between British settlers and Boer farmers.

Listeners will be drawn into vivid portraits of everyday Boer life – from modest cottages and bustling market days to the language, customs, and stubborn pride that define the community. Interspersed are unpublished reflections on the Englishman's role in the region and a poignant essay on the waste‑land of Mashonaland, offering a rare, sympathetic perspective often missing from contemporary accounts. The narrative’s gentle humor and earnest empathy make the material feel like a personal diary shared across the centuries.