The arms of the Van Riebeeck family – Gules, three annulets or – crop up time and again in South African coats of arms, often merely to indicate that the arms belong to this country. (These charges are called ringe in Afrikaans, and ringen in Dutch, but in English a “ring” is one worn on the finger, and set with a stone.) They are often held to be those of Jan van Riebeeck, who founded the refreshment station in Table Bay which was the beginning of European settlement in South Africa. However, it appears that Jan did not display them,  although the family’s use of device goes back
to the Middle Ages. The arms were, however, displayed by his son Abraham.

Van Riebeeck’s three annulets appear in various guises. Cape Town was granted the plain red shield with an anchor as a supporter, but later added a gold shield. The Cape Colony (and the Cape Province afterwards) had the annulets in the same field as a rampant lion.

Grahamstown (on its own authority) changed the background colour to blue. It also made the third annulet larger, and this was repeated in the arms of the town’s two public schools, today known as Graeme College and Victoria Girls’ High School. Grahamstown, however, later obtained a grant of arms in which the annulets appeared on a red pile. Much later, St Andrew’s College (a school attended by descendants of the colonel) was granted arms also incorporating annulets (two this time).

Wynberg, site of Jan van Riebeeck’s farm, used the Van Riebeeck arms in its first quarter. Stellenbosch took just two annulets and placed them on either side of a peacock. And Pinelands High School (taking its cue from the Pinelands Municipality) has three annulets on a red chevron.

Port Elizabeth’s crest places Van Riebeeck’s three annulets on a red mural crown. And the coronet that substitutes for a crest in the arms of the Western Cape Province also features the annulets.