Bain's Passes

Ouberg (Oudeberg) Pass

AndrewDocumented

Managed and built the pass; One research guide adds Charles Lennox Stretch as co-builder. Paid for by Graaff-Reinet residents, not a government department.

R63Route
7.8 kmLength
1,450 mSummit
TarredSurface

See it on the mapLog your drive

Before you go

Tarred pass with steep gradients and deep cuttings; drive with standard caution.

Road conditions change with weather, floods, fires and roadworks. Check the latest conditions with the road authority or local tourism office before you leave, and carry offline maps.

About this pass

Ouberg lies about 20 km north of Graaff-Reinet on the R63 towards Murraysburg. It is a tarred secondary road with deep cuttings and Karoo views. Several passes share similar names, so confirm you have the right one.

SAHO lists it among Cape passes on which convict labour may have been used, but gives only its location. The name is from the Dutch for "old mountain", and Wikipedia says the road was first constructed in 1829. There are at least two other Ouberg passes: one near Montagu in the Western Cape, and an unsurfaced Roggeveld one near Sutherland (summit 1,401 m, built 1968–69, not Bain's work), so check which is meant. Ross's chronology puts Bain's pass at 1829 (Minnaar 1987; documents in the Bain Family Papers, UCT) or 1832 (Storrar 1984), built unpaid, helped by surveyor Captain Charles Lennox Stretch; the Graaff-Reinet Agricultural Society had engaged the saddle-maker Bain to improve the passes north of town. Citizens gave him an inscribed medal in 1834. Dr Andrew Smith described it as three hours' travel from Graaff-Reinet through low trap hills. A toll was erected at the top in March 1859 (and in June 1860 a farmer complained that only 400 yards had been completed in ten months). A new deviation on the western side, begun January 1943 at a cost of £11,000, was opened on 19 December 1945 (engineers R. Merskey and T.G. Bain). During the 1968–69 tarring of the R63 traffic was diverted onto Bain's 1829 road, still in good condition. HIPSA's biography gives 1832 and says Bain was "chief manager" of the pass without any surveying or engineering training, with all expenses covered by prominent townspeople. It records that he was appointed Engineering Inspector by the Cape Roads Board in 1845.

History

Built by
Managed and built the pass; One research guide adds Charles Lennox Stretch as co-builder. Paid for by Graaff-Reinet residents, not a government department.
Built
1832. Two sources give 1829; three give 1832, which is used.
Location
R63, Graaff-Reinet to Murraysburg, Eastern Cape
Notes
The 1829 and 1832 dates conflict. Three sources give 1832 and two give 1829. 1832 is used as the date given by most sources; 1829 may be the year of first construction. Wikipedia gives 1829 for the first road, which supports the 1829 alternative on this card. The Wikipedia page does not name a builder. The 1829 date comes from the Bain Family Papers and Minnaar; Storrar says 1832. Ross also lists a different Ouberg Pass off the R354 northwest of Sutherland (1968) and an Ouberg near Vanrhynsdorp (1914), both not Bain's work. HIPSA and Ross's 1993 talk say 1832; Ross's chronology cites the UCT Bain Family Papers for 1829.

Find it

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-32.12119, 24.40772
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