Friday 25th July 2025 5.30pm for 6.00pm, Lagoon Room, Beacon Island Resort, Speaker: Len Swimmer
We have all enjoyed the breathtaking views from the passes which enable us to travel over our spectacular mountains and into the beautiful valleys beyond .
But do we ever stop to think of the extraordinarily difficult journeys which faced our ancestors before these incredible gateways were built ?
Do we pause to acknowledge the foresight, planning and engineering which went into the construction process ?
Arguably the greatest of these road builders and engineers was Thomas Bain – probably the best known of the 19th century road makers who played such a major part in opening the hinterland of the Cape Colony .
Thomas Charles John Bain (not to be confused with artist and explorer Thomas Baines). and his father Andrew Geddes Bain perfected the technique of constructing dry stone retaining walls – many of considerable height and length. The roads they built are still standing and in use to this day.
Andrew was responsible for 7 major passes and Thomas for an incredible 26.
These were all completed in the days before modern equipment .
Two of the better known -the Swartberg Pass between Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert and our own Prince Alfred’s pass which links us to the Langkloof still have gravel surfaces and remain largely as Thomas Bain built them .
Thomas Bain is rightly credited with opening up South Africa for trade and travellers.
There was however much more to this amazing man.
As well as being an Associate Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, he had a profound knowledge of geology and was an enthusiastic botanist .
His artistic skills are evident in his drawings, plans and maps mostly lodged in The University of Cape Town .
He enjoyed singing and also played the violin .
He was a devoted family man and father of 13 children who were home educated by his wife Johanna .
Their years in the little village of De Vlugt, which Thomas established during the construction of the Prince Alfred Pass, were particularly contented, although they also suffered their greatest sadness there when one of their daughters, Alice, died after an accident.
Thomas Bain’s original cottage built around 1862 during the construction of Prince Alfred’s Pass
Towering stone walls of The Swartberg Pass
Prince Alfred’s Pass