Waylands Farm and the Duckitt Family Legacy

FIRE AT WAYLANDS FARM

A wildfire destroyed a treasure trove of historical assets and documents belonging to the DUCKITT family of Waylands farm in the Darling district on Monday, 01 December 2025. A veld fire set fire to the thatched roofs of the farm buildings. The family may lose antique firearms, furniture, animal-drawn vehicles, cars, tractors, literature, documents, and rainfall figures that have been kept since 1910.

Waylands has been in the Duckitt family’s possession since 1865. The current owners are John DUCKITT and his son Michael. The original name Karnemelkfontein was changed to Waylands, honoring the ancestral farm Waylands in Surrey, England. The two homesteads were constructed in 1865 and 1892, and the oldest buildings, including the farm labourer’s cottages, date back to the 1820s.

The Duckitt family farms Nguni cattle, Merino sheep, free-range pigs and winter cereals. A large portion of the farm is a wildflower conservation reserve that was opened to the public in the early 1900s. Frederick DUCKITT initiated the reserve. Wilferd DUCKITT built the road that allows visitors to drive through the reserve in 1938. The wild flowers are at their best from about the last week of August to the end of September, with the peak being in the first 2 weeks of September.

THE FOUNDERS OF THE DUCKITT FAMILY IN SOUTH AFRICA

William DUCKITT junior was born in October 1768 at Waylands Farm in Esher, Surrey, England, the son of William DUCKITT and Elizabeth ISLES. He died on 13 April 1825 in Darling, South Africa.

His father was a farmer and inventor of several farming implements. William senior was born on the Isle of Wight but as a youngster was employed by the Duke of Newcastle in the garden at Claremont, where he started his crop experiments and designed his first implements. He married Elizabeth ISLES in Esher in 1763. The family moved to Waylands farm, then owned by Francis PELHAM of Esher Place. Here William senior designed many agricultural implements, winning a silver cup for his drill plough. His youngest son, John, became gamekeeper at Esher Place and later managed the estate and model farm at Woburn for the 5th Duke of Bedford. John succeeded his father at the farm of Sandown. The tomb of William senior, who died in 1801, at St George’s Churchyard in Esher, also commemorates his son William’s death at the Cape, “to which settlement he was sent with a large establishment by George the Third to introduce his father’s system and implements of agriculture.”

William Junior was employed at the Treasurer-General’s office in London. He married Mary Ann WHITBREAD (1775-1843) in 1794. The couple had four sons: William (1795-1884), George (1796-?), Frederick (1799-1873) and Charles (1808-1869).

In July 1799 William junior was tasked by the secretary of state, Henry DUNDAS, to go to the Cape in order to introduce modern farming techniques there and take up the position of Superintendent of Agriculture. The Cape farming methods were outdated and would not be able to feed the growing population of Cape Town, the British garrison and the many passing naval and merchant ships.

The Wellesley was selected for the voyage but had to wait for a convoy, as England was at war with France. The Wellesley left Gravesend on 03 April 1800 with William’s wife and two sons (William and Frederick) and a farming staff of ten, including Isaac ISLES and five members of the CROWCHER family, all from Esher. William joined them at Portsmouth. Also on board were a Devon bull and two heifers from the Duke of Bedford’s prize herd, hop plants, fruit trees and implements designed by his father. Accompanied by East Indiamen and the Grand Fleet, the ship sailed to the Cape, surviving a skirmish with a French privateer. They landed at the Cape on 11 September 1800. The party settled at Simonstown and made experimental plantings there while William junior inspected various properties in the interior. He finally selected the government farm Klapmuts as an experimental farm and received money to finance his agricultural experiments.

William junior introduced a lighter and more efficient iron plough, invented by his father, to replace the traditional heavy wooden Cape plough. He advocated the use of manure on wheat fields and gardens and tried to convince local farmers to breed cattle, horses and sheep of superior quality. He provided valuable information that led to an improvement in wool farming.

The Cape governor, G. YONGE, awarded William and two VAN REENEN brothers a contract to provide meat to the troops at market-related prices, despite objections by other officials. He also allowed William to use certain government farms, leading to a lack of a clear distinction between William’s official agricultural duties and his private farming. After the governor was recalled to England in April 1801 because of corruption and mismanagement, the acting governor Francis DUNDAS (nephew of Henry DUNDAS) stopped further advances of money to William, expecting him to cover his own costs from the proceeds of his farming.

William’s crops failed in 1801 as a result of drought, and unauthorised expenses by him in April 1802 further strained his relations with Francis DUNDAS. Towards the end of the British occupation in 1803, he was an embittered man and had achieved limited success with both his farming methods and his advice to the local farming community. However, he was popular among the Dutch farmers, and his ideas and methods gradually spread. In addition to farming, William bought and sold several farms, while he and his business partner John WATNEY sold agricultural implements and other merchandise in their store in Cape Town.

On 21 February 1803, the Cape was transferred to the Batavian Republic, and Commissioner-General Abraham DE MIST continued the farming innovations that the British had introduced. He established a Board of Commission for Agriculture and granted the members an area of 40,000 morgen around Groote Post. William had remained at the Cape and signed an oath of submission to the Batavian Republic. In October 1812 he was appointed secretary to the agricultural board and was in charge of its experimental station near Darling until the board was dissolved in 1815.

In 1808, about 64 kilometres north of Cape Town, close to the hill known as Kapokberg, the land that spread all the way to the shores of Saldanha Lagoon was known as Groene Kloof (now Mamre). Many of the vegetables required to supply the fleets of the Dutch East India Company were grown here. The company’s herds of cattle and flocks of sheep found abundant grazing here. At the beginning of the 18th century, about 29 farmers lived and farmed in the area. Cattle raids became frequent until a system of guard stations where the animals were most frequently driven for grazing was implemented. The biggest of these guard stations was known as Groote Post.

A small flock of merino sheep from Holland was sent to Groote Post, later joined by a stud bull, cows imported from England and some horses. The committee built a substantial house and outbuildings at Groote Post. By this time the British had reoccupied the Cape but kept the Board of Agriculture. On 27-28 January 1815, an agricultural meeting was held at Groote Post where the public was invited to inspect the stock and agricultural implements.

When Lord Charles SOMERSET arrived in 1814 as Cape governor, he accepted the position as patron of the Board. He immediately made changes which were resented and then dissolved the Board and took direct charge of Groote Post and the surrounding farms. After he left the Cape in 1828, Groote Post was divided into seven farms, and 17-year leases were auctioned.

On 20 January 1836, Phillip Johannes RENS purchased Groote Post at a public auction for £1,062.10s.0d. and owned it for two years before selling it to Mrs JM HILL, who resold it the same day to Frederick DUCKITT, the son of William junior.

Throughout its long history, Groote Post has been associated with the improvement of livestock breeding in South Africa. It is now owned by the PENTZ family.

Adjoining Groote Post is Klawervlei. In 1803 it was owned by Sebastian VAN REENEN. On 25 January 1815, the farm was transferred to William DUCKITT junior. He became a successful private farmer, farming with cereals, sheep and cattle, and bred racehorses. He had a blacksmith’s shop for manufacturing ploughs to his father’s design, organised a racing stud and introduced vines to the area – producing wine and brandy by 1818. William died at Klawervlei on 13 April 1825, and his wife in 1843. Both are buried there.

THE DUCKITT CHILDREN

1) William was born on 23 March 1795. He was baptised on 21 April 1795. He died on 27 December 1884 at Klawervlei.
He was accompanied by his mother to England to be educated in 1804. His father handed Pampoenvlei over to him in 1820, and he inherited Klawervlei in 1825. He also served as Justice of the Peace until 1850. Duckitt descendants owned the Klawervei until 1957. The PENTZ family has owned it since 1988.
He married Anna Catharina EKSTEEN on 11 April 1826 in the Anglican Church in Cape Town.

2) George was born 27 September 1796. He died as a child.

3) Frederick was born on 28 November 1799. He was baptised on 22 December 1799. He died on 12 October 1873 at Groote Post.
He first farmed at Lemoenfontein and later at Groote Post in the Darling district. He served as a member of the Cape Parliament.
He married Hillegonda Johanna VERSFELD on 26 April 1824 in the Anglican Church in Cape Town. The couple had 10 children, the sixth of whom was the renowned author Hildagonda Johanna DUCKITT (1839-1905). Hildagonda (Hilda) wrote “Hilda’s Where Is It? of Recipes”, published in 1891, and “Hilda’s Diary of Cape Housekeeping”, published in 1902. She grew up on Groote Post where she entertained lavishly, hosting festivities, picnics, hunts and dances. Hildagonda was responsible for introducing nemesia plants to Britain. She exported the nemesia seed to Sutton’s Seed Merchants in England, where they caused a sensation. She was also the instigator of the Christmas chincherinchee flower export market from the Cape. When she disapproved of a bride, whom one of her relatives was marrying, she moved off Groote Post and settled in Wynberg at St Lucia Cottage where she continued to entertain and write. Her guest list included naval officers, aristocrats and Princess Helena (daughter of Queen Victoria) and her daughter Princess Marie Louise. Hildagonda never married, after her engagement to a Lieutenant William BROWN was broken by him.

In 1915, while standing on a carpet of flowers, Frederick of Waylands Farm and the then pastor’s wife, Suzanne MALAN, decided to share the beauty of Darling’s wildflowers. This led to the founding of the Darling Wildflower Society in 1917. The first Darling Wildflower Show took place in the form of a flower-arranging competition. The landscaping of the exhibits started in 1980 as an active conservation measure. The Society is still active and also hosts nature-based activities for the children of Darling during school holidays.

4) Charles was born on 25 April 1808. He died on 07 November 1869 in Darling.
He married Sophia Magdalena VAN REENEN on 21 April 1834 in the Anglican Church in Cape Town.