interior, leaving Natalia to the British who established the Colony of Natal. Thus Natal acquired an English-speaking rather than an Afrikaans-speaking settler community and Estcourt, being so close to the Tugela River become a frontier outpost. In 1847 Clem Heeley was the owner of an inn and trading store at a ford on the Bushman's River. On 4 December that year a military post known as Bushman's River Post was established on a hill dominating the ford, whilst at the same time a village known as Bushman's River was established across the river. On 4 January 1848 the Surveyor General recommended that the seat for the new magisterial district of Impofane be located at Bushmans River Drift. Initially the recommendation was ignored and the magistracy was located at Weenen, some 30 km away but in 1859, with the growing importance of Estcourt, the seat was moved there. The Byrne settlers and the name "Estcourt" The settler community was further strengthened by the arrival of the Byrne Settlers - English immigrants whose settlement in the Colony was sponsored by Thomas Estcourt, a North Wiltshire, MP. In 1946 there appears have been conflicting suggestions of why the town was called "Estcourt" - one body of opinion favouring the view that the town was named after Captain Estcourt, a member of the party who established the military outpost in 1847 and the other favouring the view that the town was named after Thomas Estcourt MP in 1863. Pearce, after extensive research which was backed up by the Ralfe family legend, supported the latter view which is now the accepted view. The settlement grows In 1872 an Anglican church was built on the banks of the Bushman's River, and Fort Durnford was built in 1874 by Lt-Col Durnford, a military engineer, as a base for the Natal Mounted Police. The fort became a substantial stronghold, and was used to protect transport riders and the herds of cattle driven across the ford. It is as secure as any castle with drinking water tanks in the basement, a drawbridge, moat and two secret tunnels. The confirmation of large deposits of coal in the Dundee area in 1880, some 100 km north of Estcourt led to the building of a railway line to link the coalfields with Durban. In 1885 the railway reached Estcourt and a bridge that is still in use today was built across the