Swaziland Digital Archives: Decades: 1900's

About the 1900's

Photos 1 to 10

1900 Forbes Reef Photographer: Unknown Source: National Archives	Photo No. 32	Gold was discovered at Forbes Reef - quickly a whole mining community started with extraction equipment. The large hole and adits left can be visited within Malolotja Nature Reserve.
1900 Franklin's Hotel, Piggs Peak Photographer: Unknown Source: National Archives	Photo No. 35	Franklin's Hotel. Franklin was a trader and liquor merchant in Piggs Peak. When the Boers invaded they smashed 5000 gallons of his liquor stock in a fit of puritanical revenge against the British miners who opposed them.
1900's Florence Mission Wild West Photographer: Unknown Source: Dawson family	Photo No. 427	Blacksmiths at work in early Swaziland circa 1900. Place unknown. Note the dreadlocks.
1900's Holtman family Photographer: Unknown Source: Dawson family	Photo No. 487	The standing man is Henry Anton Holtman, graduate of the Sorbonne and trained agriculturalist. He tried farming coffee at Namahasha before the Boer War in partnership with David Forbes and Allister Miller. He married Hester Regina Bothma (one of the girls in "Boer Family, 1888") moved to Piggs Peak and had one son Abraham Karel, and five daughters. From left, the daughters are "Polly" Helena Cornelia, Hester Regina and antoinette Catherine.
1900's Relatives Photographer: Unknown Source: Dawson family	Photo No. 447	The woman in the centre bears a strong facial resemblance to the Bothma children. The photograph was found in the same trunk as the Bothma photographs. Note the basic living conditions of the period.
1900's Settlers Photographer: Unknown Source: Dawson family	Photo No. 448	Early settler life was hard, conditions basic, and child mortality was high. Often less than half the children survived into adulthood. Uniformed man on the right is possibly Weston, a policeman.
1904 Mbabane Photographer: Unknown Source: National Archives	Photo No. 28	Mbabane, circa 1904. Taken from the junction of Allister Miller and Gilfillan Streets.
1904 Mbabane Photographer: Unknown Source: National Archives	Photo No. 27	Mbabane. Taken from Gilfillan Street looking down into Allister Miller, near the L.M. Restaurant. Cameras tend to make steep slopes look flat.
1904 Piggs Peak Cricket Team Photographer: Unknown Source: Bob Forrester	Photo No. 31	Sporting events were popular, the passion for cricket was peculiarly British. Piggs Peak no longer boasts a cricket team.
1907 Young Sobhuza Photographer: Unknown Source: National Archives	Photo No. 94	Young Sobhuza, 1907. Sobhuza with his own mother, Lomawa Nxumalo. Until 1921 his grandmother ruled Swazi internal affairs during the British era.