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."One
of the most valued friendships we've enjoyed in
recent years, occured during our May 2001 visit to
South Africa, while in the company of Daniel (Dan)
Dunn of Cape Town. During four great days of dawn
to dusk touring by minivan, Dan not only showed us
many of the Cape area's top attractions, but added
spice to the occasion by relating a wide variety of
local facts and legends. In my opinion, the most
intriguing stories involve Daniel's own family, a
line which descended from John Dunn, whose story is
related in a book by Charles
Ballard.
John Dunn of
Zululand: The
Man, The Legacy
By Charles
Ballard
Few
personalities in the history of Natal and Zululand
have aroused as much controversy as the legendary
"hie chiefs" John Dunn. He is mostly remembered for
his taking of nearly fifty Zulu wives and the
siring of over one hundred
children.
But,
this fact alone does not make Dunn singularly
unusual, for many white men took wives and
concubines from the indigenous black populace.
Rather, John Dunn's exceptional place in history
rests on his prominent role in events hat were
crucially important in the shaping of modern South
Africa. In a sense, John Dunn's history is "living'
history of his numerous descendants have formed a
distinct and vital community in southern
Zululand
John Dunn father
was Robert Newton Dunn who was born in 1795 in
Scotland. In 1820 he emigrated to South Africa and
settled on the eastern Cape frontier near Port
ElisabethFew settlers packed their belongings and
struck out for Natal, among them Robert Dunn and
his family. I was during that time that John Dunn
was born at Port Natal and he would have been one
of the first white settlers to have been born in
the frontier settlement.
It is important
to remember that Dunn grew up in a white settlement
that did not become a colony until 1843. Port Natal
was a semi-independent white enclave beyond British
imperial Conrail and it was much more vital for the
traders to maintain friendly economic and political
relations with the Zulus Kingdom and the local
African populace.
The white
traders readily adapted to African social and
cultural norms. The scarcity of white women
prompted nearly two thirds of the white traders to
take black wives and concubines., The British
traders also found it convenient to become petty
chieftains and govern Port Natal. When Natal became
a British colony in 1843 European culture and
social customs replaced the way of the African. The
rule of hunter trader chiefs was replaced by a
Brioche Colonial Administration. Natal's African
population was territorially politically and
socially segregated white society.
Against his
background of ever tightening colonial rule and the
insistence that white colonists conform to white
standards of conduct. John Dunn became alienated
from Natal changing society. Personal tragedy and
financial setbacks soured his attitude even
more.
His amazing
skill with a rifle, his fluency in Zulu and his
extensive knowledge of the physical and human
environment of Natal and Zululand earned him a
modest living as a guide for hunting parties. He
then turned to transport riding, Dunn stated in his
autobiography that he renounced civilization and
left of the haunts of wild game in
Zuzuland.
THE King
Cetshwayo saw the end of a quest for a "white
chief" to serve as his adviser when dealing with
the Natal government. The Zulu heir apparent felt
an acute political need for white assistant and
Dunn possessed qualities that Cetshwayo found
attractive.
Cetshwayo's
attachment to Dunn came to be based on more than
mere expedience and the two became close friends
and confidants. Dunn readily accepted Cetshwayo's
invitation to settle permanently in Zululand.
Indeed, Cetshwayo had offered Dunn an ideal
situation. He gave Dunn occupational rights to
lands along the southern Zululand coast from Ngoya
in the north to the Lower Tugela in the South.
Status in the Zulu kingdom was measured by the
number of wives and cattle in an individual's
possession
And Dunn
acquired an abundance of both. Between 1858 and
1878 John Dunn emerged as one of the most powerful
chiefs in the Zulu kingdom. He ruled over nearly
twenty five square miles of territory land six or
seven thousand black subjects. Natal sugar industry
owes much to Dunn. The coming of the Anglo Zulu War
of 1879 was a time of supreme crisis for John Dunn.
He at first tried to remain neutral, but as Brian
and Zulu drew closer to war Dunn found that both
were intolerant of a "fence sitter". Dunn was wary
of remaining in Zululand. Dunn could have remained
neutral but he had not only his own material well
being to safeguard but that of his very large
family and several thousand black subjects as well,
Dunn served Lord
Chelmsford well and was named Military Intelligence
Officer and awarded the local rank of commandant .
After the war Dunn was made of the thirteen chiefs
as a result of the Ulundi Treaty of 1 September
1879. Not only was he made a chief but he received
the largest and wealthiest of the thirteen
chiefdoms. Dunn controlled nearly one fifth of
Zululand and controlled a number of lucrative trade
monopolies.
Ironically the
post war settlement in Zululand which had given
Dunn his wealth and power contained the seeds of
its own destruction. After a short three month
illness John Dunn aged 65, died of dropsy and heart
disease at his Emoyeni home on 5 August
1895.
John Dunn is
unique in South Africa's historical annals for he
founded a distinct new community. The product of
Dunn's union with forty-nine wives was an estimated
one hundred and fifteen children the overwhelming
majority of whom were classified as "colored'.
Yet,John Dunn unknowingly bequeathed a bitter sweet
legacy to his descendants. The distribution of John
Dunn's property was immediately cloned with
dispute. The chiefs beneficiaries of John Dunn's
fortune did not have long to enjoy it before
natural calamities of catastrophic magnitude erased
the accumulated wealth of half a century in less
than two years. The Dunn's were reduced from a
position of comparative to one of poverty and ever
destitution Dominic Dun said of this calamity that
what had been a land of plenty became a land of
desolation and moaning of bitter complaints of lean
stomachs and downright starvation. From 1898
onwards many of John Dunn's descendants were forced
to leave Dunn's land and seek employment in Natal,
the Transvaal and the Cape. The Diaspora has
continued to the present day of Dunn's descendants
having settled as far afield as the United Kingdom,
Canada Australia and the United States of America.
In the 1950s Gladstone Dunn a grandson of John
Dunn, became the spokesman for the Dunn community.
He and his relatives had of wrestle with the
interrelated problems of insecurity of land tenure.
Gladstone Dunn's energies were devoted to promoting
sugar cane production. This would make the Dunn
community more prosperous and check he further out
migration of Dunns from Zululand.
In 1974 Daniel
(Dan) Dunn son of Gladstone Dunn, was elected as
Chairman of the John Dunn's Descendants
Association. He has proven to be one of the most
dynamic and effective leaders that the Dunn clan
has ever produced. Daniel Dunn set out to achieve
three goals for his people. The Dunns have
succeeded in a large measure because they identify
strongly with their remarkable ancestor &endash;
whose qualities of individualism and single-minded
determination have inspired a sense of pride and
perseverance in his descendants. The spirit of
unity displayed by the Dunn community is a
testimony to the towering personality of one of
South Africa's legendary figures.
We
recommend Daniel (Dan) Dunn as a Tour Conductor
Daniel
Dunn
Chairman/ President
Western Cape Chapter
Africa Travel Associaiton
E-Mail:
dan@dandunntours.co.za
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