Newcastle is a town like no other. Made up of people from different cultures and backgrounds, Newcastle is a town which is notorious for uniting together in a time of need.
While we love and cherish our town, do you know it has had its name changed on more than one occasion?
Fort Amiel Museum Curator Louis Eksteen explains Newcastle’s history began in the 1800s. “On old military maps from the 1840s, shows Newcastle was known as Post Halt No. 02.
“In 1854, Dr Peter Cormac Sutherland went to Greytown and surveyed it. He intended to name the town Newcastle, however, the community objected and indicated they wanted the town named after George Grey who was a popular governor in the Cape colony,” Louis says.
However, Dr Sutherland was determined to put the name to use, by naming a town after the fifth Duke of Newcastle, Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton who was also the secretary of the colonies and war.
A month after naming Greytown, he found himself in a town by the name of Waterfall River Township. The time had finally come, and this town was named Newcastle, a town scores of people call home.
As the town grew, its name had changed from Post Halt No. 2 to Waterfall River Township. Its new name proving just how much potential lay in the town.
Eksteen explains there was no town funding to complete the name change, but after the selling of the first plot of land in 1864 was our town officially named Newcastle.
But it seems this is not the last time the town’s name was changed. During the Anglo-Boer War in 1899, Boer forces invaded Northern KwaZulu-Natal and occupied Newcastle, without firing a single shot.
During this time, the town’s name was allegedly changed to Viljoensdorp. “However, the magistrate’s records do not show an official name change. It could have been Boer propaganda, as well as British propaganda,” says Eksteen.
This alleged propaganda was apparently meant to be used as a tool for both sides to continue fighting for their respective causes.
In May 1900, exactly seven months after the Boers occupied Newcastle, the English reclaimed the town and its name allegedly reverted back to Newcastle.
With our town’s name starting off as Post Holt No. 2 and ending with the name we have grown to know and love, it is truly a special town with the community and has grown dramatically over the decades.
We are truly proudly Newcastillians and proudly South African.
