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Did You Know?

The heliograph station on the roof of the Garfield Hotel in Jacobsdal, Free State, dates to 1899, during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902). Heliographs were communication devices that used mirrors to reflect sunlight, sending Morse code signals over long distances. This station was likely used by Boer forces to relay military messages across the flat, open terrain of the Free State, as Jacobsdal was a strategic location near the Modder River and the border with the Cape Colony. The Garfield Hotel itself was a prominent building in the town, making its roof an ideal elevated position for such signalling. Little specific documentation survives about this exact heliograph station, but it reflects the broader use of visual signalling technology during the war, particularly in the early phases of the conflict around the Siege of Kimberley and the Battle of Modder River (November 1899).

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