The Bay and Settlement of Natal in the 1850s settler era

This engraving from the Illustrated London News shows The Bay and Entrance to Port Natal during the 1850s, the era of the arrival of the Byrne and other settler groups. Note, no lighthouse on the Bluff - that would not be built until the 1860s. There are sailing ships anchored at the Point, having managed to cross the Bar at the entrance. Some buildings and the military camp are visible in the distance but Durban was as yet largely undeveloped, there were no roads only sandy tracks, no wharves for arriving passengers to disembark at, and the Berea was still 'a pleasant wooded hill about a mile from the town', where elephants roamed.