Laid out in 1882 and named after Dundee in Scotland, birthplace of its founder, Thomas Paterson Smith.
As far back as 1839 coal was observed in the area and a geological survey in 1880 proved that there were workable coal deposits on and around the farm Dundeer=In 1882 Peter Smith, owner of the farm Talana, laid out the town of Dundee to create a coal field centre.
It is estimated that there is about 2 700 million tons of high quality coal reserves in northern Natal, lying close to the surface.
Talana Museum
Dundee has a unique museum that is situated on the Talana battlefield and housed in the original house and farm buildings of Peter Smith. It depicts the military history of the area and the agricultural history of the Biggersberg. A replica of an old mine building houses the Chamber of Mines’ Coal Museum. Then there is the Consol Glass Museum, the Corrobrick heritage display and a reproduction of a street scene of Dundee in 1912. A miner’s cottage has been relocated to the museum and depicts the life style of a coal miner in the 1920’s. The Talana Museum covers 8 hectares.
