The first 150 years
Before the arrival of the Dutch in 1652, the Overberg was inhabited by Khoi tribes known as the Hessequas and Attaquas. The trading parties of Dutch people came to the area to barter for cattle and to cut timber early in the 18th century.
After Willem Adriaan van der Stel was recalled as Governor in 1707 (he owned large tracts of land here) loan-farms in the Overberg were granted to Burgers and officials alike. The occupation was helped on its way by Company posts established inter alia at Soetmelksvlei and Tygerhoek, both farms being on the Riviersonderend River.
All this happened to the exclusion of the Hessequas, (the Attequas living more to the east), who lost their land and herbs in the process. A large-scale and deadly smallpox epidemic in 1713 aggravated their position and they gradually became landless people, servants on the land of the Dutch farmers. One of the loan-farms was Weltevreden in the foothills of the majestic mountains, nestling along the Gobos River, a perennial stream and tributary of the Riviersonderend. The farm was first loaned in 1791 to M W Theunissen, a member of the renowned Theunissen family who owned much land and played an important role in the affairs of the Overberg. He built a house on Weltevreden in 1793, but unfortunately not even the ruins remain today.
In 1795 the farm was taken over by Hendrik Cloete of Groot Constantia. He was the Cape tycoon who owned many farms in the Overberg, including Mosselrivier (now Hermanus) and De Hoop, which is now a Nature Reserve on the coast north of Arniston. After the British occupations of the Cape in 1795 and again in 1806, Weltevreden became a freehold farm in his hands. Soon the so-called “British Invasion” of the Overberg started and in 1839 the first British owner of Weltevreden was John Malcolm Stewart. A few years before 1839, Weltevreden was offered for sale to the missionaries of Genadendal, but the offer was not accepted.
During 1842, two brothers of Huguenot descent, Henry Vigne (1805 – 1881) and Herbert Vigne (1821-1895) emigrated from England to settle in the Cape. They acquired Tygerhoek- now the town of Riviersonderend, and settled there. The farm remained in the hands of the Vigne family for 120 years. The Vigne brothers were related by marriage to Lady Anne Barnard, who toured the Overberg in 1798, as well as to the governor-to-be, Sir George Grey. Henry, apart from being a successful farmer, became a respected gentleman and politician in the Cape Court. Herbert on the other hand, still young, had quite an eventful time and reputedly had misalliances both in Genadendal and on the Eastern Cape frontier. After many disagreements, he was banned from Tygerhoek and in 1846 settled on the farm Bosjesmansklooof, next to Weltevreden. He acquired Weltevreden soon after that.