MUSEUMS AND HISTORICAL SITES

South African Air Force Museum – 021 508 6377
This fascinating museum features SAAF history to date with displays of old military uniforms, aircraft and other interesting articles.

South African Museum and Planetarium – 021 481 3900
Situated in the historic Company’s Garden in Cape Town, see South Africa’s rich and diverse history on display and be transported into the night sky of the southern hemisphere when you visit the planetarium.

Robben Island Museum – 021 419 1300
Initially used by the Dutch East India Company as a refreshment station, Robben Island was used in 1819 as an asylum for the mentally disturbed and in 1845 as a Leper Colony. In 1960 the Department of Correctional Services claimed the facility for use in the detainment of primarily political prisoners, with the Former President Nelson Mandela being the most famous of its inmates. This fascinating site is now a historical monument featuring places of interest such as the Lighthouse, Leper Cemetery, Rectory, Anglican Church, Stone Quarry, Residency, Primary School and church of male lepers. The island can be viewed from all the beaches in the Blaauwberg area.

Site of the Battle of Blaauwberg
Blaauwberg derives its name from the Battle of Blaauwberg, which was fought in August 1806. The Blaauwberg Koppie, situated on the Melkbosch Farm, approximately in the centre of the municipal area, is where the Batavians were defeated by the British.

This is private property and is not accessible to the public.

Old Wooden Bridge
At the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in 1899, Milnerton was an established township. By 1901 the British troops had taken Pretoria and President Kruger had fled to Europe in an attempt to obtain assistance from the Keiser.

General Smuts had commenced one of his many raids into the Cape Colony and to defend the Cape Coast, it was decided that military access to the island and the coast to the north should be built. This is the access still used today, a century later, as a pedestrian bridge to Milnerton Golf Links. The Wooden Bridge was declared a National Monument in 1987.

Milnerton Lighthouse
The 21m lighthouse situated on Woodbridge Island was commissioned in 1960 to serve as a beacon for the shipping trade entering Cape Town Harbour. The small stretch of ocean between Green Point and Milnerton has seen the demise of more ships than any other coastline in South Africa. The stranded Nieuw Haarlem has been commemorated with a plaque at this lighthouse.