My life in Tarlton: landscape

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Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Tarlton landscape

Acrylic painting on Giverny 240gsm acrylic paper - 12" x 9" unframed - done on location in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa)

Not far from us, a friend has a dam on his smallholding. When we visited, it gave me a chance to try my hand at some Acrylics, no sketching beforehand.

ABOUT TARLTON

Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa) is a farming area situated half-way between Krugersdorp and Magaliesburg, spread between the N14 and the R24. Originally a Blue gum plantation in the 1930’s, using the Eucalyptus wood for the mining industry and various other applications, it soon was highly sought after as an agricultural area due to the excellent ground quality and abundance of water. Tarlton has supported many flower and vegetable farms over the decades and also consists of mainly smallholdings of 8.5ha size where nature lovers tend to their little flocks of cattle, sheep, chickens and various other farming activities.

Tarlton is situated in the Cradle of Humankind and is home to many caves, game reserves, guest houses and other tourist attractions, like the Maropeng Visitors Centre, where early remains of our ancestors can be seen. Tarlton has a railway station originally laid out on the farm Vlakplaats 160 I.Q. and some of the divisions of Vlakplaats are Vlakplaas, Reydal, Hillside, Groenplaas, Marabeth, Beckendan, El Jesee, and Wolwekranz.

Tarlton also sports a church, two rural schools, an international jet car raceway, a post office, a police station, a filling station, a supermarket, a few flower nurseries, an air field and various other small businesses.

Just before the second Anglo Boer War (1895 - 1902), L.S. Jameson (one of Rhodes’ ‘kindergarden’ members), departed from Pitsani in Botswana travelling through Boons and Tarlton on the way to Krugersdorp to meet the ‘reformers’. They were intercepted by General Cronje and his Boers and after a short skirmish over-night (Dec 31st 1895), at Krugersdorp, where Jameson lost approximately 18 men, they surrendered to Cronje at Doornkop on the 1st January 1896.

Modern Tarlton now falls under the jurisdiction of Mogale City and is largely still a rural farming area, but with progress, many industrial enterprises are now moving in, threatening the little wildlife we have left. In the early 1970’s, there was an abundance of guinea fowl, hedgehogs, jackal, tortoises, snakes, chameleons, hares, Egyptian Geese, herons, cranes, Hadedas and various other small mammals, which are now rarely seen.

I realise progress cannot be stopped, but we can all do our little bit by having wildlife-friendly gardens and leaving open spaces as safe passage for all of them.

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Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Tarlton landscape