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Grave on the Motoppo Hills



Memorials at Groot Schuur

Rhodes Grave in Matopos National Park is an amazing place. May he forever rest in peace here as he certainly has a place in the history of the place. I enjoyed my time in Zim and intend to return.

For those based in the UK, the original full sized gesso statue of "Physical Energy" created by George Frederick Watts, can be seen at the Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey.

Although the Gallery has limited Military interest, it is well worth visiting to see the works of Victorian Britain's finest artist. The Gallery even has a cheap entry day on Tuesdays for those (like me) who like to save funds to be spent on their main interests....

Sepoy,

Prompted by your post, I looked into the statue a little more.

According to the Royal Parks' site:

This bronze statue of man on horseback is called Physical Energy and commemorates Sir Cecil Rhodes, the diamond miner and founder of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. It is one of several memorials in Kensington Gardens to leading figures of the 19th century.

The statue, installed in 1907, is by George Frederick Watts. It is based on a memorial to Rhodes on Table Mountain in Cape Town.

Watts said the statue was "a symbol of that restless physical impulse to seek the still unachieved in the domain of material things". This was particularly appropriate for Cecil Rhodes, made his fortune before he was 30 and in 1880 established the De Beers mining company, which has dominated the diamond industry ever since.

Rhodes used his wealth to try to extend the British Empire in Africa from the Cape of Good Hope in the south to Cairo in the north. Rhodes' dream came true shortly after he died when Britain took control of one million square miles of the Transvaal at the end of the Boer Wars. Rhodes left his fortune to Oxford University to fund the Rhodes Scholarships.

One of the notable items at worlds view (Rhodes Grave) is the Memorial to the Shangani Patrol who were killed in the Matabele War (1893) prior to the Boer War. This memorial can be seen in the picture above behind Rhodes Grave and is a somewhat larger than you expectand a moving tribute to them. Highly recommend if you find yourself in Zim. You are also bound to run into Robs motorcade at some point too, you cannot miss it!!

Back to Rhodes, his legacy being the Scholarships he left in his name have been his greatest gift to the Old Empire. Some rather clever Rhodes Scholars have left a positive mark on this world.

David

Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town is very impressive and it is as spectacular a memorial as any man could hope for. The parkland surrounding it was once part of Rhodes' private estate and herds of fallow and sambar deer introduced by Rhodes still feed under the Mediterranean pines that also do not belong there. Hopefully, Rhodes' private zoo is no more, but within the past few decades it still housed some mammals, including lions descended from those put there in Rhodes' time.

I was told of a British geographer, who was newly arrived at the nearby University of Cape Town, walking back to his digs late in the afternoon after his first day at the university. As he neared the zoo, lions roared and he took to his heels and did not stop running until he was safely home again. This man later emigrated to Australia, a not uncommon practise in South Africa, which probably had nothing to do with the embarrassment he felt after his brush with Rhodes' lions.

Another story from my Cape Town days and one told by anti-Colonialists is that the memorial does not face north-east towards the hinterland of Africa, where Rhodes made his fortune and had his dreams, but south-east towards the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, which is where his enemies thought he belonged.

Regards
Brett