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Archive Import: Proclaimed as a Natinal Monument 12 June 1942.
History: This historic house stands on the western side of the main road between Ingogo and Charlestown. It is situated at the foot of the Amajuba Mountain, 35 kilometres from Newcastle and 11 km from Charlestown. It is planned in the form of a cross and is built of stone. In March, 1881, peace negotiations were conducted there after the Battle of Amajuba and the treaty that brought the First War of Independence of 1880-1881 to an end was signed in this building which at that time belonged to R. C. O’Neil, known to his familiars as ‘Ou Gert’.
On the night of 26th February, General Colley’s troops began to climb up Amäjuba mountain just behind O’Neil’s house. After the defeat of the British and the death of Colley, Sir Evelyn Wood concluded an armistice with Gen. Piet Joubert on 6th March. On 15th March Paul Kruger, Dr. E. J. P. Jorissen and other Transvaal leaders arrived at the Boer camp at Laing’s Nek, and on 20th March President J. H. Brand of the Orange Free State joined them. Brand’s function was to act as arbitrator at the negotiations.
The discussions were held in O’Neil’s house at the invitation of Sir Evelyn Wood. The Transvaal was represented by President Kruger and Jorissen and at various times also by Gen. Piet Joubert, M. W. Pretorius, Jacob Mare, D. C. (‘Swart Dirk’) Uys, Karel Rood (interpreter), Gen. Nicolaas Smit, C. Joubert, the Rev. D. P. Ackerman and J. 0. H. Sluiter (recorder). On the British side there were Sir Evelyn Wood, Major Fraser, Major Clarke, Captain Roberts, Captain Thornbrugh Cropper the Aide-de.Camp, and Lieutenant Hamilton. President Brand was present throughout the proceedings.
The meetings were held in the front room on the east side of the building. At times all except members of the government were sent out, and at other times the Boer leaders held informal consultations outside on the verandah. No full minutes of the discussions were kept. At the end of this meeting the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek regained its independence although it remained under the suzerainty of Britain for the time being.
The meeting of the group of people round the table in the front room forms the subject of one of the panels by the sculptor Anton van Wouw on the base of the Kruger statue on Church Square, Pretoria.
The cottage was built about 1870 by P. A. Hayward de Bary, a Roman Catholic, which explains why a white cross appears on the front gable, and was later bought by a certain O’Neil of Graaff-Reinet. In 1878 O’Neil transferred the house to his brother, R. C. O’Neil, who was living in it at the time of the Battle of Amajuba. Some of the wounded were cared for in the house and three of the men who died in it are buried in the orchard nearby.
Proclaimed 1942"
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Condition: Fair
Construction Date: 1870
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Catalogue: , No: , Significance Category: Significance: It was in this cottage that negotiations took place during a number of meetings in March 1881, attended by President Kruger, which resulted in the eventual signing of the Pretoria Convention in August 1881, ending the First Anglo-Boer War.