Murraysburg

Murraysburg is an Afrikaans speaking town of approximately 5,000 people in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated in the far northeast of the municipality, about 540 kilometres (340 mi) from the provincial capital Cape Town, and 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Graaff-Reinet. It is governed as part of the Beaufort West Local Municipality within the Central Karoo District Municipality.

Murraysburg
Dutch Reformed Church, Murraysburg
Murraysburg Show map of Western Cape Murraysburg Show map of South Africa
Coordinates: 31°57′S 23°46′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Central Karoo
Municipality	Beaufort West
Area [1]
• Total	69.3 km^2 (26.8 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	5,069
• Density	73/km^2 (190/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	18.4%
• Coloured	80.7%
• Indian/Asian	0.3%
• White	0.5%
• Other	0.2%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Afrikaans	87.6%
• Xhosa	9.8%
• English	1.0%
• Other	1.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	6995
PO box	6995
Area code	049

Murraysburg was founded in 1856 on a farm named "Eenzaamheid" (Dutch for "loneliness") and became a municipality in July 1883. It was named after the Reverend Andrew Murray Snr, who was minister of Graaff-Reinet, and Barend O J Burger, who played a role in the establishment of the town.[2] An original condition for the purchase of any residential plot in Murraysburg was that the plot needed to be surrounded by a quince hedge. This unexplained rule meant that Murraysburg once had the largest quantity of quince hedging in the world.

According to the 2011 census, Murraysburg has a population of 5,069 people in 1,255 households. 80.7% of these people described themselves as "Coloured", while 18.4% described themselves as "Black African". 87.6% spoke Afrikaans as their first language, while 9.8% spoke Xhosa and 1.0% spoke English.[1]

Murraysburg is situated on the R63 regional road, which connects it to the N1 and N12 national roads to the west and the N9 to the east. It is a distance of 620 kilometres (385 mi) from Cape Town by road, and 345 kilometres (214 mi) from Port Elizabeth. The town has public primary and secondary schools, a public library, a provincially aided hospital, a police station and a magistrate's court.

References

1. Sum of the Main Places Murraysburg and Rooivlakte from Census 2011.
2. "Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain)". Human Science Research Council. p. 324.