Around 1791 the grazing rights on Wagenboomskloof 'aan die Onrustberg' (adjoining Onrus Mountain) were awarded to Matthjis Guillaume, and subsequently to Gabriel Frederick du Toit and Opperman in 1806. In 1825 Jacobus Gildenhuys took over the grazing rights of Wagenboomskloof and on 15 May 1834 a perpetual quitrent was granted to him for the area below Rheezight (below the present national road), extending from the 'Hoek van die Berg' (end of the mountain) where the village of Hawston is now, to the border of Hermanus Pieters Fontein (now Hermanus). When Gildenhuys died in 1862 the farm was taken over by Beukes and Associates and was run by them until 1903.

Up to the end of the nineteenth century this coastal stretch of the Overberg region was a remote, thinly populated corner of the old Cape Colony. It was hardly ever mentioned in books or directories and rarely visited by anyone of significance. However, the area was being cultivated and developed and the beach at Onrust was an attraction for travellers from the Cape and further afield, as it is for visitors today who come here to enjoy the environment, the sandy beach and the lagoon. It must have been a paradise for weary travellers arriving on horseback and in wagons, a place to rest and enjoy the tranquility of the area – despite its name!.