Williston is a town situated at the intersection of the R63 Provincial Route and R353 Regional Route in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
The town is located approximately 103 km north-east of Calvinia and 140 km south-west of Carnarvon.
Williston falls within the Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality and the Namakwa District Municipality.
Williston is the main town and administrative centre/seat of the Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality.
History
Williston was originally known as Amandelboom (meaning “almond tree” in Afrikaans) as a large almond tree stood as the focal point of the town by the Sak River. The tree had been planted in 1768 by Johan Abraham Nel, a farmer and owner of the land that was to become the town, to commemorate the birth of one of his sons.
In the early 19th century, the district was populated by pastoralists who constantly moved their livestock between springs in search of fresh grazing areas. These pastoralists were derogatorily referred to as ‘Basters’ as the pastoralists were of mixed race and descendants of the Khoi and Dutch.
In 1845, the community requested that the Rhenish Church, which had a mission station in Wuppertal, establish another mission station in Williston. Two missionaries were sent to Williston to assist the community with their spiritual needs. By 1845 a Rhenish mission station was established in the area by Johann Heinrich Lutz.
In the 1860s, a population of white nomadic farmers moved into the area. The arrival of the new farmers precipitated the movement of many mixed race community members out of Williston. The mixed race population migrated north across Bushmanland and crossed the Orange River into Namibia to the town of Rehoboth.
Williston grew into a town around the mission station and it was declared a municipality in 1881. The town was formally renamed Williston in 1919 after the British Colonial Secretary of the Cape Colony, Colonel Hampden Willis. The town became an official district in 1926 and the area became known for its sheep farming, which continues to this day.
Williston often experience droughts and water shortages. A local clergyman, Reverend S Kuhn, used dynamite to blow up the towns central spring near the Sak River in an attempt to increase the flow of water. Unfortunately, all that Reverend Kuhn succeeded in doing was destroying the historic almond tree.