Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal

Greytown is a town situated on the banks of the Umvoti River in a richly fertile timber-producing area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

History

Greytown was established in the 1850s and named after the governor of the Cape Colony Sir George Edward Grey who later became Premier of New Zealand. A Lutheran church was built in 1854. A church bell which was brought to the town for the Dutch Reformed Church in 1861 to summon the Dutch and English congregations was the centre of a series of theological arguments. It was stolen and buried, only to be found 74 years later upon the construction of some cottages. A strikingly designed Town Hall was opened in 1904. In 1906 following a poll tax and other oppressive conditions placed on the Zulus, the Bambatha Rebellion took place.

Trivia

* The final resting place of Sarie Marais is at Greytown. Sarie was a famous Voortrekker woman who died, aged 37, having her 11th child. She is immortalised by the song of the same name, now indelible part of South African culture.
* Second Boer War General and the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, Louis Botha was born on a farm 5 km south from Greytown.