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JB was so taken with the Woodbush area that he wrote; “I resolved to go back in my old age, build a dwelling, and leave my bones there.” In his album he refers to many of the pictures of being around “Buchansdorp”.

The photographs which follow have been contributed by Mrs Lynette Davidson who operates an Azalea nursery at Haenertsburg. Miss Sheila Thomson has a neighbouring farm where tourists come to see azaleas, cherry trees and crab apples and rhododendrons in bloom. Miss Thomson’s grandfather, who worked at the forestry centre in the area met JB who was in an old woodcutter’s hut just above the current site of the Magoebeskloof Hotel. JB was on his trek to Woodbush in the north-east Transvaal which he describes in his essay, “The African Colony”.

Main Street, Potchefstroom

Natives - W Transvaal

Diamond Diggers near Vaal Ouer

The Vaal River near Christiana in the North West Province

Dry Veldt, West Transvaal

View from Buchansdorp

Woodbush from Smith’s Drift

Morning : Woodbush

Broederstroom

Helpmakaar Spruit

Broederstroom

Helpmakaar

Broederstroom

Helpmakaar

Woodbush

Groot Letaba

Machabi Glen

Woodbush - hazy morning

Woodbush

Morning from Buchandorp

Wolkberg

Woodbush

Shed/Farmhouse near Haenertsburg circa 1971

Tzaneen - Agatha Forest

Magoebaskloof, Woodbush

Mrs Lynette Davidson

Miss Sheila Thomson

Some youngsters who work on the Davidson farm during school holidays to earn extra pocket money

An ox grazing in an arid area near Haenertsburg. Aloes in the background

Between Pietersburg and Haenertsburg on the way to Woodbush

Described as a misty morning but it looks idyllic

The area around Haenertsburg

“Shortly after dawn the next day we toiled to the top of a long hill and entered the Woodbush. A high blue ridge - The Iron Crown Mountain behind Haenertsburg - rose before us” This view from Lynette Davidson’s Farm

“ The mountains come into view a little way from Pietersburg but there are many miles of featureless High Veld to be covered before the foothills are reached. It was midsummer when I first travelled there and the dusty waterless plains were glazed by the hot sun. The Sand River filled with acres of fine sand, but not a drop of moisture, was not a cooling object in the scene…..”

Journey to Woodbush

“…but insensibly the country changed. Bold Kopjes of rose-red granite appeared on the plain”

A “rain shadow” area only 20 miles from Haenertsburg with Aloes, Euphorbias and thorn trees

The University of the North (Blacks only) . The Botany Dept is at the base of the Inselberg with a natural botanical garden on its doorstep

Pine trees on Lynette Davidson’s farm

Maple and Birch in Lynette’s garden

A memorial stone erected to honour JB near Magoebaskloof in 1987