In 1837 the first of the Voortrekkers of the Great Trek reached Natal after a long journey from the Cape. In the course of negotiations in obtaining land for his followers, Piet Retief was told that he first had to recover some cattle that had been stolen from Dingane, before the Zulu King would consider granting land. With 69 of his compatriots and servants Piet Retief managed to do as he was asked and returned with the stolen cattle on 3 February 1837 to Dingane's homestead at Mgungundhlovu. After a few days in the kraal Dingane drew up a treaty whereby he granted the Voortrekkers the land between the Tugela and the Umzimvubu rivers. This document was signed on 6 February 1837.

After signing the treaty Retief and his party were overpowered and dragged to KwaMatiwane where they were clubbed to death. The only white man to witness this treachery was a missionary named Owen. The remaining Voortrekkers, still awaiting the arrival of Piet Retief and his companions, were totally unaware of this massacre. Immediately after the murder, Dingane, still greatly disturbed and made anxious by the strange white immigrants, sent a thousand of his warriors to kill the remaining Voortrekker settlers located at the Bloukrans and Bushman rivers.

During the night of 16 February a group of Dingane's warriors reached the laagers scattered around Bloukrans River. These follow up attacks resulted in the deaths of 41 men, 56 women, 185 children and 200 servants, as well as the capture of 25,000 head of cattle. This attack became known as the "Great Murder" or the "The Bloukrans Massacre".

Throughout the day the Zulu assaults on various laagers continued. In the aftermath of these attacks the full extent of the brutal and indiscriminate murder of these people, particularly at Bloukrans, became apparent and had such a resounding emotional effect upon the Voortrekkers that the memory of these events have lived on in succeeding generations.

On the initiative of General Piet Joubert the remains of the victims of this massacre were exhumed from their graves and reburied in this communal grave on 16 December 1895. The monument at Bloukrans commemorating the deaths of the Voortrekkers was erected in 1897.