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In 1804, Cornelius Kramer and William Anderson
of the London Missionary Society extended their
mission north of the Orange River. They chose a
mixed community of the Chaguriqua tribe and "bastaards"
(people of mixed origin) who had come north from
Piketberg (now in the Western Cape). In 1813 the "bastaards"
were renamed Griquas and the town was renamed
Griquatown.
In 1821 the Scottish missionary Robert Moffat
(1795-1883) and his wife Mary (1795-1870), travelled
from Cape Town to the most northern regions of the
Cape Colony.
They stayed at the Mission Station in Griquatown
(in the
Northern Cape) and Mary, who was heavily
pregnant, gave birth to a daughter.
Shortly after their baby was born, whom they
also named Mary, the Moffat's continued on their way
to settled amongst the
Bechuana tribes in the southern Kalahari, to the
west of the
Vaal River.
 Together
with Robert Hamilton, Robert and Mary Moffat
established the best-known Mission Station in
Africa, often referred to as ‘the fountain of
Christianity’.
 The
mission station also became a base for famous
explorers, including David Livingstone (1813-1873).
In 1844 David Livingstone married the Moffat's
daughter Mary.
Between 1852 and 1856 Livingstone explored the
African interior, and was the first European to see
the Mosi-oa-Tunya waterfall (which he renamed
Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria).
Lekker links
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 Robert
Moffat was responsible for translating
The Bible and Pilgrim's Progress
into Setswana. Their original printing press
can still be seen at the Kuruman Moffat
Mission.
At the Kuruman Moffat Mission just
outside Kuruman the original church has been
perfectly preserved and is in mint
condition, as are other historic houses.
It was not until 1887 that the official town of
Kuruman in the Northern Cape was laid out.
Mary
Moffat Museum - Griquatown
The
London Mission Society House in
Griquatown was built in the late
1820s. When Griquatown was laid
out as a town in 1879, the
survey commenced from the
Mission House, the parallels
being taken from the front walls
of the building.
In
1904 the Mission House was sold
to Barclays Bank, who purchased
the property directly from the
London Missionary Society, and
up until 1956 used it as a bank.
When Barclays completed their
new building next door, the
building was converted into the
Mary Moffat Museum, dedicated to
the baby born here in 1821.
The
so-called Moffat pulpit can be
seen in the museum. A declared
National Monument, it was
probably made by Robert
Hamilton, a co-operator of
Moffat. The old ship's bell was
the church bell, and was said to
have been brought from Cape Town
on the back of an ox. It
announced the sermons preached
by the missionaries Livingstone,
Moffat and Waterboer.
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