During excavations for a new residential block in Cape Town in 2003, old bones were uncovered! These were decided to be unmarked graves of slaves, dating from the 17th and 18th Century. Archaeologists from the University of Cape Town were called in, as prescribed by the National Heritage Resources Act. This story ended with the opening of the Prestwich Memorial, on the corner of Buitengracht Street and Somerset Road, in 2008. The single-storey building is finished in grey Robben Island slate. The concept is one of a dignified Burial Chamber, a well-lit visitor centre, and a shaded green memorial garden. The building has been carefully positioned to protect views of St Andrew’s Church and the nearby Lutheran Church complex. The adjacent memorial garden and stone walling are placed on the alignment of the historical cemetery. The Interpretive Centre is located on an historically significant site in as much as it was formerly part of the Dutch Reformed Church cemetery - a piece of original cemetery wall stands left of the main door - and adjoins the original alignment of old Somerset Road, where the old horse-drawn trams to Sea Point once ran. It makes a striking statement, built next to the first Presbyterian Church in the country, completed in 1828. It was the first church to allow freed slaves through its doors, after slavery was abolished in 1838 in South Africa.

Schmidtsdrift is a Town, in Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, in the Northern Cape Province. (Situated 80 km West of Kimberley). It was originally a Fjord, across the Vaal River which is now bridged on the N8 National Route from Kimberley to Campbell and Griquatown.

The Town has an infamous Diamond Mine which is; 80% owned by Lonrho Mining and 20% by the Schmidtsdrift Communal Property Association. In June 2008 an 18.39 carat diamond was discovered at the Mine.
The History of Schmidtsdrift has been traced back to 1827 when it was declared a Crown Trust Land. Occupied by the Tswana-speaking Batlhaping and Griqua people. It was scheduled as the Schmidtsdrift Native Reserve, in terms of the 1913 Natives Land Act. The threat of relocation in the 1950's forced some of the Griqua families to identify as Batlhaping. The Griqua families who did not align themselves with the Batlhaping were forcibly removed, subsequently. Ultimately the ‘Black Spot’ removal policy saw more than 1000 Tswana or Batlhaping, households removed in 1968, forced onto military trucks at gunpoint.
The South African Defence Force acquired the use of; Schmidtsdrift Farms and in 1974 established a military training Base there!

After Namibia's independence in 1990 members of the 31 Battalion, (the so-called Bushman Battalion) which consisted of Vasekele and Mbarakwengo San People. They were settled in a tent Town near to Schmidtsdrift. They had been recruited by the South African Army in Northern Namibia, to fight against the South West African People. In 2003, most of these communities relocated to Platfontein outside Kimberley following the successful land claim on Schmidtsdrift, by the erstwhile Batlhaping inhabitants.