[3][4] Founded in 1853 and named after Dr William Robertson, a Scottish Dutch Reformed Church minister.

[5]: 302 Situated in the fertile Robertson Valley, farming and wagon building were the town's original industries.

However, after the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899, the wagon building industry collapsed when the railways took over the transport of all goods.

Robertson has a population of over 20,000 civilians Western Province Sport Parachute Club (WPSPC) - Skydive Robertson, founded in 1972, is the oldest remaining skydiving club in South Africa.

This is the first time the national skydiving championships has been held in the Western Cape.