Replica of the 'Train Shelter' in the Makgabeng

Close-up view of life-size replica of a well known painted rock art shelter in the Makgabeng, Limpopo Province.

This protest art was painted in the late 1800's by the Hananwa (Bahananwa, Xananwa), now Northern Sotho, during the Maleboch war of 1894. The images tell the story of the conflict with Boer colonial authorities who were trying to push the Hananwa from their land, and show people being taken away in trains (monsters) to work in the mines or put in prison. Conflicts occured over land and were between Afrikaans famers and the local Hananwa. The art portrays the trains that took people away from their land to work in the mines or go to prison (and often never come back).

Most of this art was painted with white paint, and are finger-painted.

Origins Centre houses the exact replica of this breathtaking panel.