Voortrekker Pioneers
Daniel Erasmus & Sons
|
Eustace Gain & Anne Austin
|
L-R: Donovan, Anne & Cameron Austin
|
In general terms, the Midrand area is typical Highveld, a landscape characterised by gently sloping plains, separated by relatively deep valleys carved out by the Jukskei River, Kaalspruit, Olifantspruit, Modderfontein Spruit and smaller watercourses. At places there are ensembles of large granite boulders, rocky outcrops and hillocks. Except where human settlement has occurred, the plains are generally treeless. Clumps of vegetation occur at many outcrops and hillocks, and the vegetation is more dense in the river valleys.
This environment formed the basis for the patterns of human occupation, which emerged since Early Stone Age times. The river valleys, boulders and rocky ridges were habitat to groups of Stone Age people, and here stone artefacts have been found and can be expected as signs of occupation. Settlement by Iron Age communities took place near rivers and close to rocky outcrops. Clumps of trees often indicate the presence of remaining stone walls and other structures, although none which are of definite Iron Age origin have been found so far.
The history of human occupation of and settlement in the Midrand area, known so far, goes back at least 150 000 years, when groups of Early Stone Age people appeared periodically. These people survived by manufacturing simple tools and weapons of stone, bone and wood, which they used for hunting and gathering edible plants. No permanent settlement took place, and only deposits of stone artefacts, such as the one which previously existed on the farm known as Allandale have remained behind.
Following the Early Stone Age, Midrand was the scene of the periodic occupation by Middle and probably also by Late Stone age groups. Some of the local rock was suitable for manufacturing stone artefacts, as is evidenced by item 5 on the farm Waterval. Settlement, which was only of a temporary nature, often occurred at sheltered spots close to rivers, such as Glenferness Cave. Numerous Middle Stone Age implements have been and are still are to be found along water-courses, and thus it is imperative that no further development takes places in these zones in order to preserve them as `archives' of Midrand's cultural heritage.
Occupation of Midrand by the first groups of Iron Age settlers began some 1600 years ago. These people spoke Bantu languages, such as Tswana, kept domesticated animals, grew crops and manufactured pots and iron implements. Like the Stone Age people, they also hunted and gathered edible plants. A site such as The Boulders was probably occupied by early Iron Age groups between 350 and 600 AD, followed by new periods of settlement by Tswana-speaking groups since the early 16th century.
Like the Stone Age people, the Iron Age communities often favoured sheltered places, as is evidenced by their occupation of Glenferness Cave. The Bushmen, who were basically Late Stone Age people, were not displaced immediately, as is evidenced by their probable occupation of The Boulders between 1100 and 1200 AD, and for many centuries they lived side by side with the Iron Age settlers.
White farmers, settling in the area since the middle of the 19th century, carved up the landscape into a number of farms, which even today form the framework for agricultural, residential and other forms of development. The farm names also describe the environment: Olifantsfontein, Blue Hills, Witbos, Kaalfontein, Waterval, Diepsloot, etc. Stands of poplar, palm, eucalyptus, pine and other trees often indicate the presence of farmsteads and proved to be helpful in tracing these cultural resources. The area is also divided by a historic railway line (dating back to the 1890s) and a large number of major and minor roads, some of which date back to the previous century, and along which a number of the area’s older cultural resources (for example shops, farms, cemeteries, industrial sites) have been identified.
In the 1820s the first white people appeared on the scene, hunters, traders, missionaries and other travellers. Permanent occupation by whites began in the early 1840s, when Voortrekker farmers such as Frederik Andries Strydom and Johannes Elardus Erasmus established the farms Olifantsfontein and Randjesfontein respectively. These early white settlers and their descendants were buried on their farms, and it is thus important to preserve these burial sites where history has been written into stone. Elements of the original farmsteads have survived and should also be recorded and preserved for posterity.
Gradually the entire area was divided into farms, often with names which describe the local geographical conditions: Blue Hills, Witbos, Witpoort, Kaalfontein, Waterval, Zevenfontein, Witsloot, Diepsloot, and others. However, it was only since the 1880s that these farms were formally surveyed and mapped, and when not only their names, but also the names of rivers (Kaalspruit, Jukskei, etc) and other features became permanent fixtures on maps.
Until well into the 20th century, the development of Midrand was determined by local agriculture. The original farms, which became more and more subdivided as the number of farmers increased, supplied food and fibre to the burgeoning populations of Pretoria in the north and the Witwatersrand in the south. The practice of burying farmers and their workers on or near the farms and smallholdings continued, and a number of small graveyards in Midrand date back to this period. Of the 19th and early 20th century farmsteads, only a few have survived, for example Bibury Grange, Blue Hills, Kaalfontein and possibly one in Halfway Gardens. Also dating back to the 1890s is Helderfontein, later extensively redesigned by Sir Herbert Baker.
The Anglo-Boer War (1899 -1902) also touched Midrand, and for a short period it was a key focus of the British war effort, when the British forces under Lord Roberts advanced through Midrand from Johannesburg en route to Pretoria, which was occupied on 5 June 1900. A few British military units were stationed in the Midrand area, for example on the site of the present Escom Training Centre, and at Bibury Grange. No major battles took place in Midrand, and the armed conflict was limited to Boer attempts at sabotaging the railway line, attacks on troop trains and other minor skirmishes. A notable event was the Boer demolition of the railway culvert near the present Pinedene Station, which had to be completely rebuilt by the Imperial Military Railways in 1901.
Since the late 1880s, two other elements began shaping the modern history of Midrand, namely the development of a stage-coach station in the west and a ceramics industry in the east. Pretoria and Johannesburg were connected by stage-coach and post-cart services in the 1880s, and a stop-over station where horse and mule teams could be changed and passengers could rest was developed midway between the two towns. This facility became known as the `Halfway House'. It gave rise to the establishment of a hotel (with the inevitable pub) and a post-office in 1889.
A year later, when it was predicted that the proposed railway line between the Witwatersrand and Pretoria would pass Halfway House, a township, known as `Waterval Mooigelegen', was surveyed, which made provision for a station, government offices, shops and a market. However, the railway bypassed Halfway House to the east, and thus Midrand's first railway station was opened on the farm Olifantsfontein in 1892.
Although the proposed township did not materialise, public interest had been kindled. Halfway House was discovered by many of the wealthy in Johannesburg, who began establishing country resorts where they could relax and pursue rural sports and hobbies such as horseriding. President Kruger often stopped over at the Halfway House Hotel during trips between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The Gibson brothers, who owned a stage-coach company, bought large tracts of land on the Jukskei River where they bred cattle and established a tree nursery. The old eucalyptus trees lining the Old Pretoria Road probably originated here.
Halfway House became a town in 1920, and in 1925 Halfway House Estate was established. However, development was slow, and Halfway House remained a one-horse town for decades to come. Real industrial, commercial and residential development, as symbolised by the opening of a post-office in 1939, only began in the late 1930s as a result of Halfway House's central and accessible location in the heart of Gauteng. The post-office was demolished in 1987.
A feature of the 1930s and 1940s was the establishment of large agricultural estates, for example Crowthorne and Beaulieu, which in later years were subdivided into smallholdings for purchase by wealthy members of the public. This period also saw the development of Midrand as a mecca for flying sport (Grand Central Flying Club 1937), motor racing (Grand Central Speedway 1948) and horseriding (Lippizaner equestrian centre).
While Halfway House became the western development nucleus of the Midrand area, the same happened at Olifantsfontein in the east. When the Germiston-Pretoria railway line was surveyed in the early 1890s, extensive limestone and fire clay deposits were discovered east of the old Strydom farmstead on Olifantsfontein by John Richard Holmes. He established a lime-burning company in 1895, which was soon followed by a brick-making firm. The remains of the original quarry and plant are part of Midrand's industrial heritage. These companies and their assets - including the lime and clay deposits - were taken over by the Consolidated Rand Brick, Pottery and Lime Company (Conrand), established by Thomas Cullinan in 1902.
When Conrand tottered on the brick of bankruptcy, Cullinan started a pottery factory in Olifantsfontein. It was not very successful and it closed down in 1914. In 1926 the business was revived when the Ceramic Studio was established, which became especially famous for the production of tile murals for decorating many government buildings erected in the 1930s, including the Halfway House post-office.
Housing for the brick-making and pottery companies was provided in an area later called Clayville, and a few cottages, built from locally-made brick, have survived. For senior managers more elaborate houses were built, such as Spinney Green and Wenlock House. The growth of Conrand and the Ceramic Studio led to residential and commercial development in Olifantsfontein, and in 1940 the Clayville township was established.
Although Halfway House and Clayville had already been established, the first form of proper local government for these townships only was instituted in 1944, when the Halfway House/Olifantsfontein area came under the jurisdiction of the Transvaal Peri-Urban Areas Health (later Development) Board). In 1951 the Halfway House Local Area Committee was established as a form of local government under the jurisdiction of this Board. In 1964 a similar structure was instituted for Clayville/Olifantsfontein. These two Local Area Committees ceased to exist in 1981, when they amalgamated to form a fully-fledged new local authority known as Midrand.
The establishment of the Midrand Town Council heralded the beginning of a new period of development. However, the spectacular boom in the establishment of new residential, commercial and industrial areas often has been detrimental to the area's cultural resources. With the demolition of Van's café, the hotel and the post-office in the mid-1980s, the last tangible remains of the old Halfway House disappeared. Stone Age sites have been destroyed, cemeteries have been vandalised and eradicated, and historic stands of trees have disappeared.
Another form of disappearance was the removal of black townships of `locations' as a result of the application of apartheid legislation. As recently as 1975, a topographical map of the area indicated two 'locations' at Olifantsfontein. These, and their associated cemeteries, have disappeared off the face of the latest maps. Presumably the residents were resettled in Tembisa, which was established as a `regional township' in the late 1950s.
Many portions of the Midrand landscape are today covered by residential, industrial and commercial development, often engulfing and obliterating farmsteads, graveyards and other signs of earlier human occupation. However, these developments in themselves are also cultural resources. A number of them, for example Clayville, Halfway House and Grand Central were established prior to World War II, and thus contain cultural resources of architectural and historic significance.
In the 1800's a Voortrekker named Daniel Erasmus pegged out an area north of Pretoria right through to Halfway House (known today as Midrand) as his land. It is possible that Daniel Erasmus is the same as General Hans Erasmus, who fought in the Anglo-Boer War. Daniel's grand-daughter, Anna Elizabeth Zirkia Jacoba Austin (née Erasums), born Oct 18 1898 , (whose father was Lourens Abraham (Louw) Erasmus) inherited land which included Halfway House. Anne Erasmus subsequently married Mr Eustace Gain Austin in 1920 and the couple were given a farm by Anne's father. The result is the present-day Glen Austin.
Two sons were born, Cameron Graham Austin and Donovan Glen Austin. Anne Austin died on 20th October 1931 at 267 Zoutpansberg Road, Rietondale, Pretoria when Donovan was 3 years old. Eustace remarried to Margaret Maude Austin (born JOHNSON) and had a third son named Douglas Strange Austin. Some of the roads in Glen Austin were named after these sons, whilst George Road was apparently named after King George who was reigning at the time.
During the late 1930s, Mr Harry Shires obtained land here and established what was to become the Grand Central Aerodrome. A few motor sport enthusiast got permission from him to use sections of the runways as racetrack. Unfortunately, there already was a Grand Prix circuit located in East London – the inaugural race in 1934 was won by Whitney Straight. Later events, also referred to as the Rand Grand Prix, were held at Grand Central (in contrast to the South African GP at East London).
The inaugural race in 1937 was won by Pat Fairfield, driving an ERA. During the Second World War, things slowed down, but soon after racing started again. Some of the great names that raced here were Dick Seaman, Henry Seagrave, D van Riet, Jim Clark and Graham Hill. However, because of the prominence of the track in East London, it never achieved much attention. That is, until the late 1950s. The need for a racetrack in the central part of the country grew very much and the racetrack was upgraded. It hosted the first 9-hour endurance race in 1958, which was won by the team of Fergusson and Fraser-Jones driving a Porsche Carrera. Unfortunately, again, it was decided that the track was not suitable and the new Kyalami track was developed from 1961 onwards.
The area now known as Glen Austin was proclaimed in 1940, but it began as a small and dusty stop for coach travellers between Johannesburg and Pretoria at the turn of the century.
This environment formed the basis for the patterns of human occupation, which emerged since Early Stone Age times. The river valleys, boulders and rocky ridges were habitat to groups of Stone Age people, and here stone artefacts have been found and can be expected as signs of occupation. Settlement by Iron Age communities took place near rivers and close to rocky outcrops. Clumps of trees often indicate the presence of remaining stone walls and other structures, although none which are of definite Iron Age origin have been found so far.
The history of human occupation of and settlement in the Midrand area, known so far, goes back at least 150 000 years, when groups of Early Stone Age people appeared periodically. These people survived by manufacturing simple tools and weapons of stone, bone and wood, which they used for hunting and gathering edible plants. No permanent settlement took place, and only deposits of stone artefacts, such as the one which previously existed on the farm known as Allandale have remained behind.
Following the Early Stone Age, Midrand was the scene of the periodic occupation by Middle and probably also by Late Stone age groups. Some of the local rock was suitable for manufacturing stone artefacts, as is evidenced by item 5 on the farm Waterval. Settlement, which was only of a temporary nature, often occurred at sheltered spots close to rivers, such as Glenferness Cave. Numerous Middle Stone Age implements have been and are still are to be found along water-courses, and thus it is imperative that no further development takes places in these zones in order to preserve them as `archives' of Midrand's cultural heritage.
Occupation of Midrand by the first groups of Iron Age settlers began some 1600 years ago. These people spoke Bantu languages, such as Tswana, kept domesticated animals, grew crops and manufactured pots and iron implements. Like the Stone Age people, they also hunted and gathered edible plants. A site such as The Boulders was probably occupied by early Iron Age groups between 350 and 600 AD, followed by new periods of settlement by Tswana-speaking groups since the early 16th century.
Like the Stone Age people, the Iron Age communities often favoured sheltered places, as is evidenced by their occupation of Glenferness Cave. The Bushmen, who were basically Late Stone Age people, were not displaced immediately, as is evidenced by their probable occupation of The Boulders between 1100 and 1200 AD, and for many centuries they lived side by side with the Iron Age settlers.
White farmers, settling in the area since the middle of the 19th century, carved up the landscape into a number of farms, which even today form the framework for agricultural, residential and other forms of development. The farm names also describe the environment: Olifantsfontein, Blue Hills, Witbos, Kaalfontein, Waterval, Diepsloot, etc. Stands of poplar, palm, eucalyptus, pine and other trees often indicate the presence of farmsteads and proved to be helpful in tracing these cultural resources. The area is also divided by a historic railway line (dating back to the 1890s) and a large number of major and minor roads, some of which date back to the previous century, and along which a number of the area’s older cultural resources (for example shops, farms, cemeteries, industrial sites) have been identified.
In the 1820s the first white people appeared on the scene, hunters, traders, missionaries and other travellers. Permanent occupation by whites began in the early 1840s, when Voortrekker farmers such as Frederik Andries Strydom and Johannes Elardus Erasmus established the farms Olifantsfontein and Randjesfontein respectively. These early white settlers and their descendants were buried on their farms, and it is thus important to preserve these burial sites where history has been written into stone. Elements of the original farmsteads have survived and should also be recorded and preserved for posterity.
Gradually the entire area was divided into farms, often with names which describe the local geographical conditions: Blue Hills, Witbos, Witpoort, Kaalfontein, Waterval, Zevenfontein, Witsloot, Diepsloot, and others. However, it was only since the 1880s that these farms were formally surveyed and mapped, and when not only their names, but also the names of rivers (Kaalspruit, Jukskei, etc) and other features became permanent fixtures on maps.
Until well into the 20th century, the development of Midrand was determined by local agriculture. The original farms, which became more and more subdivided as the number of farmers increased, supplied food and fibre to the burgeoning populations of Pretoria in the north and the Witwatersrand in the south. The practice of burying farmers and their workers on or near the farms and smallholdings continued, and a number of small graveyards in Midrand date back to this period. Of the 19th and early 20th century farmsteads, only a few have survived, for example Bibury Grange, Blue Hills, Kaalfontein and possibly one in Halfway Gardens. Also dating back to the 1890s is Helderfontein, later extensively redesigned by Sir Herbert Baker.
The Anglo-Boer War (1899 -1902) also touched Midrand, and for a short period it was a key focus of the British war effort, when the British forces under Lord Roberts advanced through Midrand from Johannesburg en route to Pretoria, which was occupied on 5 June 1900. A few British military units were stationed in the Midrand area, for example on the site of the present Escom Training Centre, and at Bibury Grange. No major battles took place in Midrand, and the armed conflict was limited to Boer attempts at sabotaging the railway line, attacks on troop trains and other minor skirmishes. A notable event was the Boer demolition of the railway culvert near the present Pinedene Station, which had to be completely rebuilt by the Imperial Military Railways in 1901.
Since the late 1880s, two other elements began shaping the modern history of Midrand, namely the development of a stage-coach station in the west and a ceramics industry in the east. Pretoria and Johannesburg were connected by stage-coach and post-cart services in the 1880s, and a stop-over station where horse and mule teams could be changed and passengers could rest was developed midway between the two towns. This facility became known as the `Halfway House'. It gave rise to the establishment of a hotel (with the inevitable pub) and a post-office in 1889.
A year later, when it was predicted that the proposed railway line between the Witwatersrand and Pretoria would pass Halfway House, a township, known as `Waterval Mooigelegen', was surveyed, which made provision for a station, government offices, shops and a market. However, the railway bypassed Halfway House to the east, and thus Midrand's first railway station was opened on the farm Olifantsfontein in 1892.
Although the proposed township did not materialise, public interest had been kindled. Halfway House was discovered by many of the wealthy in Johannesburg, who began establishing country resorts where they could relax and pursue rural sports and hobbies such as horseriding. President Kruger often stopped over at the Halfway House Hotel during trips between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The Gibson brothers, who owned a stage-coach company, bought large tracts of land on the Jukskei River where they bred cattle and established a tree nursery. The old eucalyptus trees lining the Old Pretoria Road probably originated here.
Halfway House became a town in 1920, and in 1925 Halfway House Estate was established. However, development was slow, and Halfway House remained a one-horse town for decades to come. Real industrial, commercial and residential development, as symbolised by the opening of a post-office in 1939, only began in the late 1930s as a result of Halfway House's central and accessible location in the heart of Gauteng. The post-office was demolished in 1987.
A feature of the 1930s and 1940s was the establishment of large agricultural estates, for example Crowthorne and Beaulieu, which in later years were subdivided into smallholdings for purchase by wealthy members of the public. This period also saw the development of Midrand as a mecca for flying sport (Grand Central Flying Club 1937), motor racing (Grand Central Speedway 1948) and horseriding (Lippizaner equestrian centre).
While Halfway House became the western development nucleus of the Midrand area, the same happened at Olifantsfontein in the east. When the Germiston-Pretoria railway line was surveyed in the early 1890s, extensive limestone and fire clay deposits were discovered east of the old Strydom farmstead on Olifantsfontein by John Richard Holmes. He established a lime-burning company in 1895, which was soon followed by a brick-making firm. The remains of the original quarry and plant are part of Midrand's industrial heritage. These companies and their assets - including the lime and clay deposits - were taken over by the Consolidated Rand Brick, Pottery and Lime Company (Conrand), established by Thomas Cullinan in 1902.
When Conrand tottered on the brick of bankruptcy, Cullinan started a pottery factory in Olifantsfontein. It was not very successful and it closed down in 1914. In 1926 the business was revived when the Ceramic Studio was established, which became especially famous for the production of tile murals for decorating many government buildings erected in the 1930s, including the Halfway House post-office.
Housing for the brick-making and pottery companies was provided in an area later called Clayville, and a few cottages, built from locally-made brick, have survived. For senior managers more elaborate houses were built, such as Spinney Green and Wenlock House. The growth of Conrand and the Ceramic Studio led to residential and commercial development in Olifantsfontein, and in 1940 the Clayville township was established.
Although Halfway House and Clayville had already been established, the first form of proper local government for these townships only was instituted in 1944, when the Halfway House/Olifantsfontein area came under the jurisdiction of the Transvaal Peri-Urban Areas Health (later Development) Board). In 1951 the Halfway House Local Area Committee was established as a form of local government under the jurisdiction of this Board. In 1964 a similar structure was instituted for Clayville/Olifantsfontein. These two Local Area Committees ceased to exist in 1981, when they amalgamated to form a fully-fledged new local authority known as Midrand.
The establishment of the Midrand Town Council heralded the beginning of a new period of development. However, the spectacular boom in the establishment of new residential, commercial and industrial areas often has been detrimental to the area's cultural resources. With the demolition of Van's café, the hotel and the post-office in the mid-1980s, the last tangible remains of the old Halfway House disappeared. Stone Age sites have been destroyed, cemeteries have been vandalised and eradicated, and historic stands of trees have disappeared.
Another form of disappearance was the removal of black townships of `locations' as a result of the application of apartheid legislation. As recently as 1975, a topographical map of the area indicated two 'locations' at Olifantsfontein. These, and their associated cemeteries, have disappeared off the face of the latest maps. Presumably the residents were resettled in Tembisa, which was established as a `regional township' in the late 1950s.
Many portions of the Midrand landscape are today covered by residential, industrial and commercial development, often engulfing and obliterating farmsteads, graveyards and other signs of earlier human occupation. However, these developments in themselves are also cultural resources. A number of them, for example Clayville, Halfway House and Grand Central were established prior to World War II, and thus contain cultural resources of architectural and historic significance.
In the 1800's a Voortrekker named Daniel Erasmus pegged out an area north of Pretoria right through to Halfway House (known today as Midrand) as his land. It is possible that Daniel Erasmus is the same as General Hans Erasmus, who fought in the Anglo-Boer War. Daniel's grand-daughter, Anna Elizabeth Zirkia Jacoba Austin (née Erasums), born Oct 18 1898 , (whose father was Lourens Abraham (Louw) Erasmus) inherited land which included Halfway House. Anne Erasmus subsequently married Mr Eustace Gain Austin in 1920 and the couple were given a farm by Anne's father. The result is the present-day Glen Austin.
Two sons were born, Cameron Graham Austin and Donovan Glen Austin. Anne Austin died on 20th October 1931 at 267 Zoutpansberg Road, Rietondale, Pretoria when Donovan was 3 years old. Eustace remarried to Margaret Maude Austin (born JOHNSON) and had a third son named Douglas Strange Austin. Some of the roads in Glen Austin were named after these sons, whilst George Road was apparently named after King George who was reigning at the time.
During the late 1930s, Mr Harry Shires obtained land here and established what was to become the Grand Central Aerodrome. A few motor sport enthusiast got permission from him to use sections of the runways as racetrack. Unfortunately, there already was a Grand Prix circuit located in East London – the inaugural race in 1934 was won by Whitney Straight. Later events, also referred to as the Rand Grand Prix, were held at Grand Central (in contrast to the South African GP at East London).
The inaugural race in 1937 was won by Pat Fairfield, driving an ERA. During the Second World War, things slowed down, but soon after racing started again. Some of the great names that raced here were Dick Seaman, Henry Seagrave, D van Riet, Jim Clark and Graham Hill. However, because of the prominence of the track in East London, it never achieved much attention. That is, until the late 1950s. The need for a racetrack in the central part of the country grew very much and the racetrack was upgraded. It hosted the first 9-hour endurance race in 1958, which was won by the team of Fergusson and Fraser-Jones driving a Porsche Carrera. Unfortunately, again, it was decided that the track was not suitable and the new Kyalami track was developed from 1961 onwards.
The area now known as Glen Austin was proclaimed in 1940, but it began as a small and dusty stop for coach travellers between Johannesburg and Pretoria at the turn of the century.
