ABOUT
Moorreesburg was laid out in 1879 on the farm Hooikraal & was administered by village management board from 1882 and attained municipal status in 1909.
Today it falls within the Swartland Local Municipality, which is part of the West Coast District Municipality.
Koringberg is a settlement in the West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
The village is 146 km north-north-east of Cape Town and 17 km north of Moorreesburg. Founded at Warren’s Camp in 1923, it was thus named because it is situated in a wheat growing area. The name is Afrikaans and means literally ‘wheat mountain’.
Moorreesburg was named after J.C. le Febre Moorrees (1807–1885), minister of the Swartland congregation of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk from 1833 to 1881.
In 1889 a village council was established, by 1909 the settlement was granted that status of a municipality.
In 1913 a Carnegie Library was established in the town.
The town is an important logistical and processing hub for wheat and oats, two crops that are extensively cultivated in the surrounding area. The importance of the wheat industry to the town is the subject of the Moorreesburg Wheat Museum.
The impression of a ‘one-horse town’ at first glance is largely deceptive, and those driving through without stopping are missing out on a number of goings-on. Not only is Morreesburg the heart of a strong farming community but it also has one of only three wheat museum’s in the world. This one in particular attracts tourists and it’s a bonus that the local high school has now opened an art gallery, displaying over seventy local and recognised artists who form part of the local art route – fast becoming popular.
