Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
- 4/SWM
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Contact area
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Divisional Council of Swellendam was proclaimed on 16 July 1855 in terms of Act No 5 of 1855. According to the requirements of this act, the division of Swellendam was divided into six districts:
(1) Swellendam Upper Duivenhoks River, Lower Duivenhoks River, Breede River;
(2) Before Cogmanskloof, behind Cogmanskloof, Tradouw, Klipriver;
(3) Bosjesveld, Onder River Zonder End, Kluytjes Kraal, Potteberg;
(4) Riversdale, Vette River, Krombeks River, Over Duivenhoks River;
(5) Valsch River, Kaffirkuils River, Buffels, Fonteyns Valley;
(6) Great Zwartberg, Spring Fonteyn, Langeberg
The first election of members took place on 18 September 1855 at the residences of the field cornets of the proclaimed districts. By the terms of the act, one member was elected for each district.
Since the establishment of the Divisional Council of Swellendam the boundaries have been altered on several occasions, such as 1858 (in terms of Act No 12 of 1857);(4) 1860; 1872; etc.
In 1893 the Divisional Council was proclaimed the “Local Authority” for the division of Swellendam.
On 1 January 1980 the Divisional Council of Swellendam was reconstituted together with the Divisional Council of Bredasdorp to form the amalgamated Divisional Council of Bredasdorp-Swellendam.
Although the Divisional Council was proclaimed in 1855, the oldest archives only date back to 1862. This apparently, can be attributed to the large scale weeding and destruction of archives by officials of the Divisional Council in 1944. A few archives of great research value, such as a minute book covering the period February 1862 – June 1877 and a map of the Tradouw Pass drawn by Thomas Bain in 1867, were, however, donated to the Drostdy Museum at Swellendam. Through the kind co-operation of the curatrix of the museum all the archives in their possession were eventually transferred to this archives repository.
Places
Cape Province.
Cape Colony.
Swellendam.
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
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Control area
Authority record identifier
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Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
- Latin
Sources
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope Official Gazette.