Ox-wagon
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The Ox-wagon (Afrikaans: Ossewa) was a traditional form of transport, especially in Southern Africa but also in New Zealand and Australia where it was known as a bullock wagon. The first recorded use of an ox-wagon was around 1670, but they continued to be used up to modern times, concurrently with cars.
[edit] Design
Ox-wagons were typically drawn by chains of oxen, harnessed in pairs. This gave them a very wide turning circle, the legacy of which are the broad, pleasant boulevards of cities such as Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (120 feet wide),[1] and Grahamstown, South Africa, which are "wide enough to turn an ox-wagon", as the saying goes.
The wagon itself was made of different kinds of wood, with the rims of the wheels being covered with iron. The back wheels were substantially larger than the front ones and rigidly connected to the tray of the vehicle. The front wheels were usually greater in diameter than the clearance under the tray of the vehicle so that the steering axle could not turn far under the tray. This made little difference to the turning circle of the wagon because of the oxen drawing it (see above) and it made the front of the wagon much more stable because of the width of the ground contacts (the wheels) was never less than the width of the tray. It also allowed a much more robust connection between the hauling traces of the oxen and the rear axle of the wagon (usually iron chain or rods) that was necessary for heavy haulage.
Most of the load-carrying area was covered in canvas supported by wooden arches; the driver sat in the open on a wooden chest (Afrikaans: wakis).
[edit] Afrikaner symbolism
In South Africa, the ox-wagon was adopted as an Afrikaner cultural icon, possibly because Voortrekkers used the wagons during the Great Trek north and north-east from the Cape Colony in the 1830s and 1840s. The ossewa is mentioned in the first verse of Die Stem, the Afrikaans poem which became South Africa's national anthem from 1957 to 1994. When a pro-Nazi Afrikaner nationalist organisation formed in 1939, to oppose South Africa's entry into World War II on the British side, it called itself the Ossewabrandwag (Ox-wagon Sentinel).
[edit] References
- ^ Pakenham, Thomas [1991] (1992). "Chap. 27 Rhodes, Raiders and Rebels", The Scramble for Africa. London: Abacus, pp 496–497. ISBN 0349104492.
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