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The Khoi-Khoi herders of the Western Cape kept fat tailed sheep long before Jan
van Riebeeck was sent by the VOC to the Cape. However, these are not the
origins of South Africa’s high quality wool.
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In 1789 six sheep, four ewes and two rams, were sent out to the Dutch military
commander Colonel Robert Gordon. These six sheep had been a gift from Spain
to the Dutch House of Orange.
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The Spanish were furious that their gift had been sent out of Europe and
demanded their sheep back. Indeed they were sent back but not before dropping
a few lambs in the Darling district where Gordon farmed. Spanish merinos
proved ideal for this sunny climate and Col. Gordon was soon selling stock to
other farmers. Twenty even went to Australia and were the origins of the
Australian sheep industry.
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With the Industrial Revolution the demand for wool exploded, surpassing wine as
an export product. The grazing land in the Eastern Cape attracted immigration
and Port Elizabeth became the centre of the wool exchange where the German
brothers Adolph and Joseph Mosenthal held sway over the market. With the
Second World War Britain, needing wool for soldiers’ uniforms expelled the
German presence from the exchange.
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