Missing education

I learnt something very interesting today. Thanks to Paul of Cape Town Daily Photo for this tidbit.

Did you know that the first Governor of the Cape of Good Hope was a coloured? No, neither did I. Apparently, the writers of the Apartheid textbooks thought to "conveniently" omit that little fact. Yup, Simon van der Stel was of mixed race. His maternal grandmother was of mixed race, and his own parentage was mixed. His mother was the daughter of a freed Indian slave while his father was a Dutchman.

Interestingly, the second owner of Groot Constantia (part of Simon van der Stel's original farm that was subdivided and sold up after his death) was also a coloured woman and her ex-con husband.

Isn't history fascinating?