Helen M Prichard

Friends and Foes in the Transkei: a Victorian Lady's Experience of Southern Africa During the 1870s Helen M Prichard

Pioneer days in South Africa

Helen Prichard arrived in South Africa with her family in 1876. The colonisation of the interior was in full swing and hers was a family that typified the pioneer sprit of the time. Inevitably the expansion of a new people impacted upon the lives of the native population. These were years-for the British in Africa-when this would have its most significant and disastrous consequences. We experience through Helen Prichard's writings her family's efforts to create a new life for themselves in the wilderness. Their lives are put in jeopardy as the Kaffir tribes rise and as the decade draws to a close imperial forces are preparing to deal with the great Zulu nation. A vital account of a colonist woman's experiences in an uncompromising landscape.