benoni history

We will bring you details of commemorative happenings and the calendar of events.

The first inhabitants of this area were Stone Age hunter-gatherers who roamed here some 50 000 years ago. Remnants of their Stone Age weapons were found in the Rynfield area and near Cranbourne Station many years ago.

The city of Benoni began as a mining camp after the discovery of gold in 1887. Four groups, worlds apart in language, custom and background, formed the greater part of Benoni's early population—the /Afrikaners, mainly as farmers; the Blacks, mostly as labourers on the mines and the farms; the British, mostly Cornishmen from the coal or tin mines in SW England, as miners; and the Jews, mainly from Russia, Poland and Lithuania, generally as tradesmen. The first Indians, mostly descendants of the workers brought from India as cheap labour for the sugar plantations in Natal, came to the gold mining areas as traders.

Before and during World War II the town was surrounded by seven of the world's richest gold mines. The last of these gold mines ceased operation in 1964. For many decades the 92m high Kleinfontein mine dump was the highest man-made place in Benoni.

Our "City of Lakes" as it is now known, was proclaimed a municipality in 1907, and achieved city status in October 1992.

Benoni is a Hebrew word of biblical origin. Johan Rissik who was the surveyor-general in the days of Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic, had great difficulty in surveying a very irregularly-shaped piece of land. He recalled the passage in Genesis telling how Rachel had died after bearing her son Benjamin 'and he was named Benoni, Son of my Sorrow'. Johan decided it was appropriate to call this odd-shaped farm Benoni.

During the 1910 elections and the mining strikes of the early 1900s, the wild behaviour of Benonians gave the town such a bad reputation that people seriously suggested its name be changed! Our city's motto is a Latin phrase, Auspicium Melioris Aevi, which means "a pledge for better times*. Benoni achieved city status in October 1992.

Fabulous wealth was contained in the reefs around the farm Benoni, and by the early 1900s it was surrounded by seven of the richest gold mines in the world. The gold-bearing Witwatersrand rocks, consisting of quartzites, conglomerates and shales, show at the surface largely along the bottom of the valley in which our line of lakes lies, and it was here that our first mines were worked at very shallow levels along inclined shafts.

The New Modderfontein Mine showed a profit of over R4 million in 1926 — a vast amount in those days. This mine was unique in the area, in that it also produced diamonds. Benoni's last mines closed down in 1964.

This 92m high landmark has for many decades been the highest man-made place in Benoni. It contains approximately four and half million tons of sand material, and about three and a half tons of gold, of which approximately half can be recovered with modern methods of extracting gold. This would weigh about 1700kg, and be worth approximately R77 000 000, but its value depends entirely on the fluctuating price of gold. This well-known reminder of our city's gold-mining origins could have disappeared completely in five years' time.

Benoni has its own Lane of Fame, in which famous Benonians or visitors are honoured. It is situated in the Cranbourne Centre, where the hand and footprints of many of the famous can be seen, such as locals Frith van der Merwe (Springbok long distance athlete), Montgomery Zwane (Mr Junior Universe), Vic Toweel (SA's first world champion boxer), and visitors Chris Barnard (pioneer heart transplant surgeon), Helen Ouma, (first-ever Woman of Africa), and Tom Jones (English pop star)! Our Tom Jones Street, (originally Bedford Street), was not named after him, but after a local Tom Jones, who became a Town Councillor in 1909, and was Mayor in 1918 and 1919.

The old locomotive in front of Benoni's museum was recently restored for the Benoni City Council by the Railway Preservation Group. It was built in 1903 by R & W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd of Glasgow, Scotland. It worked at the Kleinfontein Mine, and its 4-6-2T wheel arrangement is believed to be unique to South Africa. It was one of three built for New Kleinfontein Mines, and as No 3 was christened "Benoni". A Benoni resident, Ken McLuckie, who lived at no 2 shaft on Kleinfontein, remembers: "Although the mine had its own power station, its heavy machinery was worked on steam power, and Old Ben had to transport vast amounts of coal from the siding at Range View Station on the Witbank Line every day. To me and my mates nothing was more majestic than Old Ben, with its name on each side in big brass letters, pulling trucks up an incline, with steam blowing out of the joints at every stroke of the pistons, and smoke belching out of the smokestack. The airliner had not yet arrived, and all heavy transport in those days was done by locomotive, steam lorry or ox wagon. So all the engine drivers were our heroes, because little boys had nothing else to dream about then.'

The main theme of our museum centres around the strikes which ravaged the town and its gold-mining industry in the early years of this century. The 1922 strike, the first major strike ever experienced in this country, features prominently in the museum's displays. The cultural diversity of Benoni's people is a secondary theme of the museum, and one of the rarest and most valuable items on display is an enormous Tswana clay beer-pot, made at the beginning of this century. The interesting herb garden boasts more than 60 different herbs, many of which are still used in traditional African healing practices. Opened in 1994 on the comer of Elston Avenue and Rothsay Street, in the building that once housed the old municipal health clinic, this museum is an excellent example of modern display techniques and contemporary themes.

To honour Benonians who have served their town or their country, their names have been listed in commemorative plaques in four public places in our city. A memorial to The Glorious Dead" who lost their lives during the First and Second World Wars (1914—1918 and 1939—1945), has been erected in Curtis Park in front of our Town Hall. In the foyer of the Town Hall itself, a list of all our mayors appears, from the very first one, R Dobson, who was elected in 1907. In Alec Potash Park, at the top end of Prince's Avenue, a memorial stone reminds us of the members of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment who were kilted in the Red Revolt in March 1922, when striking miners ambushed a contingent of the Regiment, killing 12 and wounding 26 "by shooting them down from concealed positions". A list of men who died in defence of our country during the Border War between 1973 and 1987 appears in the east foyer of the Council Administrative Building in Elston Avenue.

Town Hall

This building is a fine example of art deco, a style of design popular during the 1920s and 1930s. Also called style modern, it features an anti-traditional look of sleek elegance that was associated with wealth and sophistication. It was characterised by geometric shapes, smooth lines and streamlined forms, which are reflected in the facade and lights of the building, and its 37m high central tower. Other famous examples of this style are New York's Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the Rockefeller Centre.

The Town Hall from Princes Avenue

The foundation stone of our Town Hall was laid by the Governor-General, the Earl of Clarendon in 1936. Tom Newby was the mayor at the time. Erected in Curtis Park at a cost of £80 000 (R168 000 in today's money), the Town Hall was opened in October 1938 by the next Governor-General, Sir Patrick Duncan, during the mayoral year of Mrs Susan Hills, Benoni's first woman mayor. At the opening function the Governor-General was presented with a golden key by the architect, Mr J Lockwood-Hall of Pretoria. The main hall with galleries can accommodate 1 200 people.