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Caledon Wild Flower Soc 

History of the society

August 1892, three gents with vision decided to organize a meeting with the intent of starting a wildflower show for Caledon.  The business community were not enthralled by the idea but the gents did not give up and used their own resources to stage the first show. 

These men were Alfred Devine, H Mc Leroth and Gawie le Roux.

The very first show was held in a shed in Haw street in which everlastings were stored and then moved to another everlasting shed for the next two years.  The School Committee took over the organization of the show and in 1895 the show was moved to the old ‘kruiskerk’ in Church street.  The   The show became more and more popular and had to be relocated to larger premises every now and then due to the increasing number of visitors.  In the beginning visitors had to be carted from Sir Lowry’s pass by means of horse drawn carriages and what ever other means were available as motorcars were still quite rare and the railway line to Caledon was only completed in 1902.  September being in the rainy season did not make matters easier.

The Cape Times of then probably played a major role in spreading the word about the show, they had a correspondent at the show virtually every year.  In later years this same paper was very critical about the wastage of wild flowers at the show.

Through the years the visitor totals varied considerably, the weather being a big factor, with bad weather the people stayed at home.  During some of the war years and in severe droughts no shows were held.  Only one-day shows were held up to 1958, 1959 saw the first three-day show but it was decided to have the show every second year.  This decision was reversed in 1964, from then on a three day show was held every year. 

During the sixties the show’s popularity increased with a visitors count of 7000 for 1967, the seventies and eighties also saw good attendance figures. The old corrugated iron shed where the show was held was in bad shape, the old shed was demolished early 1991 and the present shed was erected on the same site as the old one.  The first show in the new shed was held September 1991.

During the years of the show several new plant species were discovered as a result of picking for the show.  An outstanding example was 1997.  That year one of our pickers, mr Pitte le Roux, collected two new species within the space of a couple of days.