How Gansbaai Got Its Name on the Mountain

Do you know how Gansbaai got its name on the mountain?

In the late 1950s, the town council hired Phillip Thorpe and his sons to build Gansbaai’s name on the mountain slope overlooking the village. They were paid £2 and 2 shillings for the job.

Oom Thorpe measured out the letter G, and his three sons, Stanley, Willie, and Johnie, carried and stacked the stones along the marked line. He then measured out the remaining letters, and local children soon joined in to help them with the project.

First came the two Otto brothers, Thys and Jan (Perdebos), followed by Karel Groenewald (Snoekies) and Jan Groenewald (Honnibal). Every Sunday afternoon, the group would head up the mountain to work on the name.

The late Jack Groenewald and Honnibal later joined others in returning yearly to repaint the letters, sometimes even sleeping in the cave. 

Inspiration for this story came from an Afrikaans post shared by Janine Taylor on Facebook a while back. Thank you, Janine. We love your passion for Gansbaai’s history and felt this was too good not to share, with image credit to you.

Have you ever hiked up to the Gansbaai sign? 

Photo Credit: Janine Taylor

Do you have a special Gansbaai story, memory or photo to share? Email us at info@xplorio.com and help keep our town’s stories alive.