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Conference Venues South Africa brings you information on Durbanville situated in the Western Cape Province of South Africa including information on history, location, geography, attractions

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Information on Durbanville, Western Cape, South Africa

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About Durbanville, Western Cape, South Africa

Durbanville is a former town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, it now forms part of the greater City of Cape Town metropolitan area. Durbanville is a rural residential suburb on the northen outskirts of the metropolis and is surrounded by farms producing wine and wheat.

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Places to see in Durbanville include: Rust-en-Vrede (a historic building); Onze Molen (a restored mill); Kings Court (a 1905 residential building and monument); All Saints Church; Dutch Reform Church and the Synagogue.

Durbanville is also well known for its wine route. The wine farms on this route include Altydgedacht, Bloemendal, De Grendel, D'Aria, Diemersdal, Durbanville Hills, Hillcrest, Nitida and Meerendal. The soil has a high clay content and is particularly suited to Sauvignon Blanc.

The Durbanville horse track is a left-handed course with a circumference of about 2 200 meters. The well drained soil makes the track an ideal winter racing venue.

Next to the race course is a six-hectare reserve where critically endangered Swartland Shale Renosterveld and Cape Flats Sand Fynbos meet. It became a nature reserve in 1966 after local residents found a rare plant, Aristea lugens, growing there. There are about 130 plant species, three endemic to Cape Town and 10 threatened with extinction.

The Durbanville Rose Garden is a 3.5 hectare garden that includes 500 varietals and 4 500 rose bushes.

Durbanville History

Durbanville was founded in the early 19th century around a fresh water spring and was primarily a watering station for travellers between Cape Town and the interior. Durbanville was origanally known as Pampoenkraal (from the Afrikaans words pampoen meaning pumpkin, and kraal meaning corral - an enclosure for livestock).

In 1825 a group of local farmers requested permission from Lord Charles Somerset (govener of the Cape Colony at that time) to build their own church. The Dutch Reformed Church was commended in 1825 and inaugurated a year later on 6 August 1826. A small village grew between the church and the outspan (overnight stop). During 1836 the inhabitants of Pampoenkraal petitioned the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Benjamin d'Urban, for permission to rename the village D'Urban in his honour. Permission was duly granted and the new name persisted until 1886 when it was renamed to Durbanville in order to avoid confusion with Durban - a major port city in the east of South Africa.

Durbanville had its own court house, jail and magistrate from the 1870's and became a Magisterial District of Bellville. The court house complex still exists in altered form within the Rust-en-Vrede complex, originally erected in 1850. A village management board was established in 1897 and a municipality in 1901. The first mayor elected was John King.

The village grew rapidly after the turn of 19th century and a local wagon industry developed. The King Brothers Wagon Works' used to be South Africa's biggest wagon works. At the turn of the century, it employed more than 200 men, which just about accounted for the entire village.

Towns and Suburbs of the Western Cape province of South Africa

Arniston , Albertina , Bantry Bay , Bellville , Barrydale , Beaufort West , Bloubergrant , Bloubergstrand , Brackenfell , Caledon , Ceres , Camps Bay , Cape Town , Clanwilliam , Claremont , Constantia , Constantia Park , Darling, De Rust , Durbanville , Fish Hoek , Franschhoek , Fresnaye , Gordon's Bay , Gansbaai , George , Grabouw , Green Point , Greyton , Hout Bay , Hermanus , Kenilworth , Kleinmond , Knysna , Malgas , McGregor , Melkbosstrand , Milnerton , Morreesburg , Muizenberg , Montagu , Mossel Bay , Newlands , Noordhoek , Observatory , Oudtshoorn , Paternoster, Lakeside , Langebaan , Paarl , Parow , Pinelands , Plettenberg Bay , Prince Albert , Pringle Bay , Rawsonville , Robertson , Riebeeck West , Rondebosch , Stellenbosch , Somerset West , Simon's Town , Saldanha , Sea Point , Sir Lowry's Pass , Stanford , St Helena Bay , Strand , Swellendam , Table View , Tulbagh , Uniondale, Vermont , Vredendal , Wellington , Wilderness , Worcester , Worcester , Yzerfontein

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