Simon's Town Simonstad | |
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     Clockwise from top: View of Simon's Town, Jubilee Square, Welcome Sign, Simon's Town Waterfront, St George's Street. | |
  Simon's Town  Simon's Town  Simon's Town | |
| Coordinates:34°11′36″S18°26′00″E / 34.19333°S 18.43333°E /-34.19333; 18.43333 | |
| Country |  South Africa |
| Province |  Western Cape |
| Municipality | City of Cape Town |
| Established | 1680[1] |
| Named after | Simon van der Stel |
| Government | |
| • Councillor | Simon Liell-Cock (DA) |
| Area | |
• Total | 19.81 km2 (7.65 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
• Total | 6,569 |
| • Density | 331.6/km2 (858.8/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 24.5% |
| • Coloured | 12.7% |
| • Indian/Asian | 4.4% |
| • White | 56.4% |
| • Other | 2.0% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • English | 68% |
| • Afrikaans | 19% |
| • Xhosa | 3.5% |
| • Zulu | 2.5% |
| • Other | 1% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 7975 |
| PO box | 7995 |
Simon's Town (Afrikaans:Simonstad), sometimes spelledSimonstown, is a town in theWestern Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, theSouth African Navy's largest base.[3] It is located on the shores of Simon's Bay inFalse Bay, on the eastern side of theCape Peninsula. For more than two centuries, it has been a naval base and harbour (first for the BritishRoyal Navy and now theSouth African Navy). The town is named afterSimon van der Stel, an early governor of theCape Colony.[4]
The land rises steeply from near the water's edge and the town is boxed in along the shoreline by the heights above. The small harbour itself is protected from swells by abreakwater that was built with thousands of huge blocks of sandstone quarried out of the face of the mountain above.
Simon's Town is now in effect a suburb of theCity of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. TheSimon's Town railway station is the terminus of theSouthern Line, a railway line that runs south of the central business district of Cape Town. In places, the railway line runs along the steep eastern shore of False Bay, and in bad weather waves and foam from some heavy swells wet the trains.[citation needed]
Boulders Beach is located a few kilometres to the south of Simon's Town, in the direction ofMiller's Point. Here small coves and beaches are interspersed between boulders of Cape granite. There has been a colony ofAfrican penguins at Boulders Beach since 1982.[5] There is no record of the birds having lived here prior to that date. They are shown, with scenes from the town, in the 2021 series,Penguin Town. There are only three penguin populations on the mainland in southern Africa; the others are close toHermanus at Stoney Point andBetty's Bay.[6]
In the last weeks of 1795 or the first weeks of 1796, the British built around tower on a site that today falls within the Naval Base. Britain had just annexed the Dutch colony at theCape of Good Hope and wanted to establish some defences to ward off possible Dutch or French attacks. The resulting tower was 8 metres (26 ft) high, had a base diameter of 13 m (42 ft), and walls 1.8 m (6 ft) thick, though there is no evidence that the British ever installed the guns the tower was designed to hold. In front of the tower, the British also constructed a battery that they did arm with cannons. TheMartello tower was used as a navigational beacon for ships entering Simon's Bay and was consequently white-washed in about 1843. The tower was restored in 1972 by the Simon's Town Historical Society (in conjunction with theSouth African Navy), and proclaimed aprovincial heritage site; today it houses a small museum.
TheSouth African Naval Museum is amaritime museum, which contains collections and artefacts related to the maritime history of South Africa and the South African Navy.
Simon's Town Museum is a community museum established in 1977 and located in The Residency, a historical building erected by GovernorJoachim van Plettenberg in 1777. The museum records and preserves all aspects of the history of Simon's Town community.
Simon's Town Heritage Museum is a house museum established by Zainab Davidson after the Amlay family home was returned following apartheid. After Davidson's retirement, nephew Sheribeen Amlay took over the running of the museum. Collections include photographs, newspapers, artifacts, ephemera, and genealogical resources for the inhabitants of Simon's Town pre-apartheid. Significant collections include those related to the history of Muslim settlement in the region.[7]
In 1985, a statue ofJust Nuisance, the only dog ever to be officially enlisted in theRoyal Navy, was erected in a position overlooking the harbour. The Simon's Town Museum has an exhibition dedicated to his story.
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Simon's Town became afree port in 1832.[8]
The Simon's Town municipal council assumed a coat of arms, designed by Adelbert Bonn, in September 1905.[9] It was granted by theCollege of Arms on 27 September 1957.
The design is described asQuarterly: I and IV, per pale, the dexter Argent, three towers placed 2 and 1 Gules, the sinister per fess Or and Azure, in chief on a mount Vert a peacock in his pride proper and in base three plates placed 2 and 1 Argent; II and III, Azure, an estoile and in chief three crescents Argent; over all an oval cartouche with scrolled edges Or, charged with a demi-lion rampant Gules, issuant from three barrulets wavy Vert. In layman's terms, the shield is divided into four quarters. The first quarter is divided vertically, one half depicting three red towers on a silver background, the other a peacock on a gold background above three silver discs on a red background; the second quarter is blue, with three silver crescents at the top and a wavy star below on a blue background; the third quarter is the same as the second and the fourth the same as the first; in the centre is an oval with a decorative edge displaying a red lion emerging from wavy green stripes on a golden background.[10]
These were a slightly modified version of the arms ofWillem Adriaan van der Stel, which Bonn mistakenly thought were those of his fatherSimon van der Stel.[9]
The crest was the figure ofBritannia resting on a golden naval crown. Two golden anchors were placed behind the shield. The motto wasFac et spera.
When the municipality was dissolved in 1996, the council placed its regalia, including the letters patent from the College of Arms, in the custody of the Simon's Town Historical Society.[11] The society registered the arms in its own name at theBureau of Heraldry in October 1999.[12]
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