The first recorded settlement in the Estcourt area was in 1838 when a group of Voortrekkers encamped on the banks of the Bushmans River in anticipation of securing land right from Dingane kaSenzangakhona , the Zulu king . The negotiator , Piet Retief , and his party were murdered by Dingane on 6 February 1838 and on 17 February attacks , since known as the Weenen massacre , were launched on the Voortrekker encampments along the Bloukrans River , the Bushmans River and the Mooi River . After a Voortrekker retaliation at the Battle of Blood River , Dingane was deposed and his place taken by Mpande . Panda seceded the land south of the Tugela River to the settlers which included the area that was to become Estcourt . The Voortrekkers set up the Natalia Republic , but after the Battle of Congella in 1842 , they abandoned their settlements and moved into the 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
Weenen massacre
Weenen massacre
Estcourt