AFRIKAANS : Die Simboliese Ossewatrek wat op 8 Augustus 1938 by die Van Riebeeck-standbeeld in Kaapstad begin het en op 16 Desember 1938 met die hoeksteenlegging van die Voortrekkermonument in Pretoria geëindig het, het tydens die honderdjarige herdenking van die Groot Trek grootliks tot die oplewing van Afrikanernasionalisme en Afrikaneridentiteitsvorming bygedra. Tydens die Voortrekkereeufeesvieringe in 1938 het die waens na beraming by meer as vyfhonderd dorpe en plekke aangedoen waar entoesiasties feesgevier is met historiese optogte en opvoerings, kerkdienste, toesprake en feesredes en die lê van ’n klipstapel of die onthulling van ’n monument of gedenkteken wat spesiaal vir die geleentheid opgerig is. Die doel van die studie was om eerstens ’n gedetailleerde databasis saam te stel oor die minder bekende monumente en gedenktekens wat in 1938 dwarsoor Suid-Afrika opgerig is en om hulle sover moontlik behoorlik te dokumenteer. Tweedens is die relevansie, kulturele betekenis en bewaring van die tasbare onverskuifbare erfenis in ’n post-apartheid Suid-Afrika geëvalueer en bespreek. ENGLISH : The symbolic ox-wagon trek that started on 8 August 1938 at the Van Riebeeck statue in Cape Town and ended with the foundation stone laying of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria on 16 December 1938, contributed to the revival of Afrikaner Nationalism and the forming of an Afrikaner identity. During the Voortrekker Centenary celebrations in 1938 the wagons visited more than five hundred towns where the inhabitants enthusiastically celebrated the event with historical pageants and processions, church services, speeches and usually stone cairns were layed or a monument or memorial was unveiled to commemorate the occasion. The main aim of this study was to compile a detailed database about these often unknown monuments and memorials that were erected all over South Africa in 1938 and to document them as far as possible. The second aim was to evaluate and discuss the relevance, cultural significance and preservation of these unmovable heritage structures in a post-apartheid South Africa. / Dissertation (MHCS)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted