Two members of the Middelburg Heritage Society, Danie van Wyk and Dr Tian Schutte, were honoured with a merit award by the Croatian government for their efforts to pay tribute to a citizen who fought against the British as part of the Carolina Commando during the Second Anglo-Boer War.
Through Schutte’s initiative, a memorial stone commemorating Ulderik Frani was unveiled by a representative from the Croatian Embassy during the rededication of the Burgers’ Monument in Carolina. Van Wyk was responsible for the headstone and the memorial stone.
Unmarked grave identified
Ulderik Frani (1871–1900) was a Croatian immigrant who fought as a volunteer on the side of the Boers during the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa. He originally hailed from the town of Vrgorac in Dalmatia (now part of Croatia).
Frani’s story garnered renewed attention a few years ago after historical research identified his previously unmarked grave.
Born in Vrgorac in 1871, he underwent military training in the Austro-Hungarian army before moving to the then-Transvaal, where he worked on the railways.
Upon the outbreak of the war, he volunteered to join the Boer forces and served in Edwards’ Scouts as part of the Carolina Commando.
On July 24, 1900, he was wounded during a skirmish with the British army at Strydkraal. He was taken by horse to a Boer field hospital on the farm Palmietspruit near Amersfoort, where he succumbed to his injuries that same night and was buried.
For more than a century, his grave on the Palmietspruit farm bore only an Afrikaans headstone indicating that an unknown member of the Carolina Commando was buried there. Thanks to research by historian Zvonimir Navala and the Association of Friends of Vrgorac Heritage, his identity was confirmed. Navala is also the author of the publication Croats in the Anglo-Boer War, South Africa 1899–1902.
Solemn unveiling ceremony
Commemorative plaques in both Croatian and Afrikaans have been placed on his grave in Carolina to honour his memory.
On May 31, 2024, a solemn unveiling ceremony was held in Carolina to honour all fallen participants in the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa 1899–1902.
Representatives from the Croatian emigrant community in South Africa, along with a representative of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia, participated in the unveiling of the restored monument as well as the unveiling ceremony of the Croatian memorial plaque to Ulderik Frani?
Iris Juri Marijanovi attended the ceremony on behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Pretoria and, along with an address, read a greeting message from Branko Radoni, president of the Society of Friends of Vrgorac’s Heritage.
Historical reflections
In the weekly column ‘The Week in Middelburg’s History’, Theo Ligthelm recounts how a minister’s son became a ‘terrorist’ in Middelburg and blew up trains.
On the Burger Monument in front of the Witkerk (White Church), the name C. Cremer appears among the names of citizens from the Middelburg area who lost their lives during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902).
In modern terms, Carl Cremer could be described as a young Prussian ‘terrorist’ and bomber who caused the British a great deal of frustration.
With hundreds of South Africans currently fighting on the side of Russia and Ukraine, the question arises: how many unmarked graves will there be in these countries in the years to come?
