History
The site where the Rand Afrikaans University’s complex was erected on the island in the Vaal Dam was the premises of Oase Farm, the owner of which was Victor Edouard d’Assonville (born: 17 February 1875, died: 21 May 1953), up until the building of the dam in 1934. He was the son of a French nobleman, Hendri Emile d’Assonville, who came from the nobility of Namur, France and who established himself in the previous century in Assegaaibosch near the town of Karredouw in the Cape Province.
Victor d’Assonville’s wife was Martha Catharina Grove (born: 11 December 1886, died: 4 March 1934). It is her grave that can be found near the farmstead. A very brief history of Oase Farm and its people now follows until the period when the island was created.
History Time-line:
Cultural Life at Oase
The entire time that the d’Assonville family lived in the stone building, it was a small centre of Afrikaans cultural life for the whole community along the Vaal River....Read more
School Life at Oase
The history of education at Oase is, in one word, unique. Victor d’Assonville simply set the biggest demands for his children’s learning, and all his children, besides the daughter who died at an early age...Read more
Communication to the Outside
Back then, Oase Farm was fairly isolated as a result of the course of the Vaal River. There was never a telephone or a radio. Rather, there was a primitive way of quickly getting a message through: shining a mirror....Read more