History

It was centuries ago that the world’s aristocracy discovered the symbol of justice – the ostrich feather – as adornment for their elegant headpieces.

It was said that someone, somewhere in the world, must have made money from this fad. Here in South Africa in the beautiful fertile Klein Karoo valley between the Swartberg and Outeniqua Mountains, people were literally gazing through their windows at the dollars, the yen and later also the euros which, today, are still romping in the field on two legs.

  The wealth that the ostrich was to bring at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was a highlight for the people of the Klein Karoo. Some were locals, other came from the ends of the earth. These foreigners included the Jewish community from Russia and Lithuania, who with limited possessions, lots of energy and big dreams came to Oudtshoorn to share in the wealth generated by the feather.

The downy feather, which curls graciously and so naturally, was to become the heartbeat of a rapidly growing community. Gert Olivier, Angus Lipschitz and the shopkeeper, Max Rose - who will be remembered as the feather king – were but a few of the traders and producers who became successful overnight.

   Feather barons became the land barons who flourished in ostrich-feather palaces. Typical examples are Pinehurst, Welgeluk, Foster’s Folley, Greylands and the now-defunct Towers. Houses were carefully planned, and for architects such as Edmeades it was a challenge to give each ostrich palace built against the semi-arid Klein Karoo landscape a unique character.

   On the Armoed flats is a beautiful church, erected with the money of one man. The name Armoed, which implied hardship and poverty, was changed to Volmoed after the success brought by the precious ostrich feather, thus confirming the optimism of the residents.

  
Next to gold, diamonds and wool, ostrich feathers became South Africa’s chief export product. A government delegation travelled to North Africa and discovered the origin of the most beautiful of beautiful feathers in northern Nigeria and the Sudan. The best 150 ostriches were selected and brought to Cape Town. The rest is history.

   The population of Oudtshoorn as well as the ostrich population grew. From across the mountain basic requirements such as flour, milk, meat and bread were purchased. Feathers were abundant, but the water and ostrich feed were depleted. Feather money couldn’t buy water. Major disputes arose over water and the searchers after wealth were at each other’s throats.

   Every six months around 1kg of feathers was harvested from each ostrich and by 1900 approximately 18 000 ton was exported per year - first to London and from there to Europe and then worldwide. In the Klein Karoo earnings from ostrich feathers were higher than from any other agricultural product.

   By 1903 Henry Ford had built his automobile …. without a roof. World War I started, and stylish hats for women became irrelevant. Six months into the war, the wealthy started to lose money. There was no longer contact with buyers and the ostrich market disappeared, with the industry collapsing.

   The feather industry, however, recovered. Veterans tried their best and newcomers joined the industry.  New ostrich-feather palaces sprung up.

In the following years more immigrants flocked to Oudtshoorn in search of wealth – this was also the case with the scramble for gold and diamonds in Johannesburg and Kimberley. The entire Oudtshoorn community invested their assets in feathers.

  
The volume of feathers offered on the market did not keep pace with the limited demand. By 1913, the price of feathers dropped by more than half. Within a year approximately 80% of all role players in the feather industry were bankrupt.

   No one thought of ostrich leather, or even the use of

ostrich meat, as a secondary industry. In 1916 the industry again was brought to its knees by the biggest drought in history. Feathers remained on the farm. Millionaires were back on the street and there was even loss of life.

   On 13 August 1945 KLEIN KAROO was registered. Things changed gradually. In order to negotiate better lucern prices on a collective basis, 120 farmers decided to get together and join forces. Even today the vegetable, pasture and flower seed industries flourish within Klein Karoo Seed. It was only in the late 1950s that markets started to recover significantly. Again there were feather dusters and strings of coloured feathers. And the remaining ostrich palaces were restored.

   Today the two-toed bird of antiquity stands firmly on its two feet. At times it finds it rather difficult to keep its feet on the ground because KLEIN KAROO is striving dynamically to make the ostrich fly….

   Early in the 1960s, efforts were made to build a KLEIN KAROO abattoir. Feathers were still top dog, but producers were haunted by dreams of a tannery.  “I will give anything to see ostrich skins used,” said Gerhard Olivier.  With Hannes Louw, Jurgens Schoeman and the tanner Johan Wilken, he travelled abroad for the first time in search for people who could tan ostrich leather … to find nesting items for today’s world favourite, the Blue Ostrich emblem, which was launched in Paris, France in 1994 under the auspices of Chris Coetzee.

   Arnold and Dianne de Jager found a tannery in London which, unlike Pierre Balmain in France, did not only manufacture jackets, hats and clothes, but even offered to train a tanner for KLEIN KAROO . In 1970 the tannery opened. Hermes, Yves St Laurent, Christian Dior, Nina Ricci and many others came on board. From the farmyard to Paris and from Milan to Madrid. In the West and also in the East - where the knobby texture of the unique ostrich skin symbolises good luck - it rained dollars, yen and euros to secure this great gift of nature.

  Where KLEIN KAROO had earlier exported ostrich meat in bulk, the Blue Ostrich brand started to appear on colourful portion-packed retail items in 2001.

KLEIN KAROO's  Blue Ostrich is the inspiration, with its meat, its leather, its feathers as well as its seed. Today we are proud of our three abattoirs, the new KarooCuisine plant, tanneries, our feather factory, a world-class seed-cleaning plant, fruit exports and five magnificent Agri Supermarkets where we will, as throughout the world, continue for at least another 60 years sell our SERVICES in support of our sought-after product range.