ERF 2458, UMZIMKHULU

The town hall of uMzimkhulu was built with funding from the Strachan family and in memory of the two brothers, Donald and Thomas Strachan, Donald's wife, Jane, and siblings Wallace and Kate. Donald and Thomas were orphaned soon after their arrival in the Colony of Natal in 1850 and were forced to work in transport riding before deciding to settle in the village on the south bank of the uMzimkhulu River in 1864.  Their erection of the pont over the river enabled the town to flourish and they built the hotel, a store, bakery and butchery to serve the needs of the local community.  Donald also served as a member of the Cape Legislature where he lobbied for the interests of the Pondo people.The hall was designed by Ing and Jackson, a well known architectural firm, and was built in 1920.  It is Cape Dutch Revival in style with the addition of an Egyptian styled entrance portico that reflected the popularity of Egyptian iconography at the time of construction.As local town hall, with the later addition of space for a library, the building served an important social purpose and it is one of a few buildings of high heritage value in the town that have survived repeated flooding and the expansion of the town that came with it being converted into a border town through the annexation of the area to the Transkei.