Agricultural Town
Hankey in the Eastern Cape rates as the oldest town in the Gamtoos Valley, and was originally established on the farm ‘Wagon Drift’ in 1826 to supply produce to the local missionary employees.
It was established for the purposes of growing corn for the London Missionary Society, as well as for evangelistic work.
The decision to establish the mission station here was taken when the Bethelsdorp mission near Port Elizabeth, founded in 1803 for remnants of the Gonaqua Khoikhoi, became too small. The town was named for Rev. William Alers Hankey, the then secretary for the London Missionary Society.
Burial Sites
An agricultural town surrounded by beautiful hills, Hankey boasts gorgeous and picturesque landscape and fertile land. Hankey is known to be the burial grounds of Sarah Baartman, an icon for South Africa’s history, as well as Dr John Philip, a missionary who campaigned for the rights of indigenous people.
It is also home to the largest sundial in South Africa, with a 34.6-metre diameter and a gnomon of 18 m high.