History of the site:
In the 1850s four farms were settled by the Boer "invaders" in the immediate area, namely Klipfontein, Driefontein, Olievenhoutspoort and Boskop. Oliveinhoutspoort was named for the groves of wild olive trees, which can still be seen in some rocky outcrops.
The township of Olivedale - part of Olievenshouts-poort - was developed on the Amsterdam Estate which was established in 1943 by Mr. H. Messias, a Dutch diamond dealer who emigrated from Holland before the Second World War. He established a free range chicken farm and planted an orchard of 50,000 peach trees. His house and surrounding structures where built by Italian prisoners of war who were obtained from Zonderwater prisoner of war camp.

Image source: SA History Online.

Irrigation was established for the peach trees from a borehole which required a source of power. What could be more appropriate to a native of Holland than a Dutch Windmill. The Italians constructed the windmill using a magazine picture as their guide.
The windmill was used to pump water into irrigation furrows, so all the chicken runs had fresh water daily.
This windmill was declared a national monument in 1989 and is located a few kilometres from our village (can be seen at 22 Patrick Street, Olivedale) 

The actual ground where the Olivedale Retirement Village (ORV) has been built was inherited in the mid-sixties by Margaret Constance Matthews, a New Zealander by birth, from her sister, Mrs Thurlow. Margaret lived by herself and farmed a small herd of cattle and a quantity of chickens. The cowsheds and milking parlour where situated where the guard control room today stands at the Village entrance. Milk was supplied to Douglasdale Dairy which was owned by one of her four sons, Brian. She began restoration of many old houses that were on the property, which were later lived in by family members. Margaret constructed a scenic dam to attract birds to the area.

Margaret Matthews died in 1993 and is buried next to a family member Claire who died at the age of six. They are buried in a small cemetery located were the current "Garden of Rememberance"is situated today.

The developers of ORV purchased the land from the Matthews family in 2010 and began construction of the village in 2013. We look forward as residents to writing our own chapter in the Olivedale history books.(Thanks to Brian Appleton, published in Olive’s News, June 2015).