The story of Onze Molen

Many of us Durbanvillians drive past Onze Molen Windmill on a regular, if not daily basis, admiring it but don't know too much about that lovely old windmill near the Durbanville High School.

Here is a short history of Onze Molen. The mill was built sometime before 1848, possibly in 1840, one of only two tower mills in the Malmesbury district. In 1801 Jacobus Uys, and his mother-in-law the widow Roeland, were granted two morgen (measurement of land in South Africa, equal to approximately 2 acres) of land, too small an area to farm or keep cattle.

Uys was granted a further 36 morgen in 1832. In 1837, not long before he died, he sold the property to Mezst van der Spuy Meyburgh, and it was he who probably built the mill. In the early years, the Cape windmills were situated along the Liesbeek and Black Rivers, but with the rising demand for wheat, these mills could no longer meet demand and Onze Molen was built in what was then an outlying area, on Uys's original two morgen.

It was a working mill until after the turn of the 20th century but was only named when a Mr B Brinkworth bought the farm in 1963. By the time the Brinkworth's sold the property to the NBS in 1983, the mill had been reduced to a four-metre-high trunk with a corrugated iron roof with its mechanism and top portion removed. The NBS to its credit researched the mill's history with the help of the National Monuments Council.

No plan of Onze Molen was found, but the restoration was based on Mostert's Mill in Rosebank, which is of a slightly earlier period. The restored mill was officially opened in 1986 and now is the beautiful centrepiece of the Onze Molen Village development and a visible reminder of Durbanville's rich history.