Prominent Durbanville winery Groot Phesantekraal is commemorating one of the most intriguing, Cinderella-like personalities in South African history.
On 8 April, the Cape Town Heritage Foundation officially unveiled a Blue Plaque to pay tribute to Anna de Koning. Blue Plaques are internationally recognised historical markers erected to highlight the relationship between specific locations and people or events of historical importance.
Roots
The famous high-society beauty, who was born to a slave, rose to grande dame status in late 17th and early 18th Cape society and eventually became the owner of Groot Phesantekraal that dates its origins to 1698, making it one of the Cape’s earliest farms.
Groot Phesantekraal has been in the Brink family since 1897 and has gone on to earn global recognition for its wines, cattle, sheep and wheatlands. Says fourth-generation owner André Brink, “Whereas Durbanville as a town celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, our roots go back almost 330 years.”
Returning to Anna herself, Brink explains that she was not the first owner of Groot Phesantekraal. She inherited the property in 1724 on the death of her husband, Olaf Bergh, along with several other significant farms, making her one of the wealthiest people of her day. She had married Bergh, a Swedish explorer and Dutch East India Company (DEIC) official, in 1678. He went on to amass a significant fortune. Even though along the way he suffered several setbacks, she endured, remaining by his side throughout.
She bore 11 Bergh children, making her the progenitor of the now widespread Bergh family in South Africa. While her beauty, wealth and status made her an extremely eligible marriage partner, she remained a widow from 1724 until her death in 1734. The estate she left included not only Groot Phesantekraal, but many other farms, including Groot Constantia.
Chenin Blanc
Wine lovers can raise a toast to the steadfast Anna when the current vintage of the Anna de Koning Chenin Blanc is featured on the farm on this year’s #DrinkChenin Day, Saturday 21 June.
Made from vines established in Malmesbury shale atop a mixture of clay and iron soils, the flagship, limited-edition wine has been decorated for its rich and concentrated, honeyed and citrus notes but elegant profile and refreshing poise. Also available for sampling will be the farm’s mainstream unwooded chenin expression, perfumed and voluptuous, tamed by a hint of flint.
Anna, born to rise
Thought to have been born around 1661, she was the daughter of the slave known as Angela of Bengal from the Ganges Delta in India and possibly François de Koninck of Ghent, now part of Belgium. It has been deduced from records that she, with her mother, Anna, formed part of the household of the Cape’s first Dutch East India commander, Jan van Riebeeck.
Although evidence from those 17th century times is scant, what can be confirmed is that in 1666, when her mother’s owner at the time, Abraham Gabbema, was transferred to Batavia, he freed Angela, along with three of her children, including Anna.
While women’s lives were not documented to nearly the same extent as men in those days, we do know that during the time of Willem Adriaan van der Stel as Governor at the Cape – 1699 to 1707, when he was dismissed for monopolistic and unethical conduct – Anna was famously reported to have stopped his wife, Maria, from committing suicide. This is according to a diary entry of Adam Tas, one of the farmers who objected to Van der Stel’s ways and took a leading role in his dismissal.
According to the Tas diary entry for December 24, 1705, “Fair morning. Our labourers were busy carting the corn to the homestead. They tell me this day that the Governor’s wife had, in a fit of despondency, tried to drown herself by jumping into the fountain behind the house at the Cape; however, Mrs. Berg was on the spot, and ran to help her, pulling her out of the water, to whom the Governor’s wife lamented bitterly that her life had become one of terror for her on account of the many scandalous acts she must daily hear and witness.”
Steadfast nature
Anna also showed her steadfast nature when Bergh fell from grace. He had arrived at the Cape in 1676 to become a favourite of Governor Simon van der Stel (Willem Adriaan’s father). Tasked with retrieving the treasures from a local shipwreck on behalf of the DEIC, he was accused of having kept the valuable goods for himself. He was found guilty and banished to Robben Island, where Anna accompanied him.
After three years, he was freed and given the choice of keeping his former rank but away from the Cape or remaining at the Cape without any rank at all. He chose to keep his rank and take his family to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), also under the rule of the DEIC.
In 1695, after five years in Ceylon, Bergh returned to the Cape with his family.
Source: Kites of Good Fortune – The story of Anna de Coningh by Therea Bernadé (2004) and Woman of Freedom: The story of Anna de Koning, by Lauren Jacobs.
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