Boksburg
Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, W. Eduard Bok. The Main Reef Road linked Boksburg to all the other major mining towns on the Witwatersrand and the Angelo Hotel (1887) was used as a staging post.
Boksburg
1887[1]
162.35 km2 (62.68 sq mi)
1,694 m (5,558 ft)
260,321
1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
56.7%
11.6%
2.5%
28.4%
0.8%
28.5%
18.6%
14.8%
9.1%
29.0%
011
Boksburg has been part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since 5 December 2000,[3] which forms the local government of most of the East Rand.
The Mining Commissioner Montague White built a large dam which, empty for years, was dubbed White's Folly until a flash flood in 1889 silenced detractors. The 150,000 square metre dam is now the Boksburg Lake, and is surrounded by lawns, trees, and terraces.
Masonic[edit]
The Boksburg Lodge No. 2480 was one of the twelve lodges constituting the District in 1895 A number of Freemasons gathered in Boksburg in November 1892, and having decided to form a lodge, voted as to whether it should be 'English' or 'Scottish'. The former prevailed by the narrowest of margins (13 to 12). By courtesy of the Landdrost the Lodge was able to meet in the Court House for two years but no time was wasted in finding a 'permanent' home, which was built and ready for occupation by 1895. Initially the Lodge was so active that within 12 months it resolved that the membership should not exceed 100.
The Lodge supported the formation of the District Grand Lodge but was subsequently very unhappy about the part played by the District Grand Master as a member of the Reform Committee.
After the 1899-1902 recess, the Lodge extended its premises, incurring a debt which was to take 30 years to liquidate. In spite of this the Lodge fully supported masonic appeals and was one of the two lodges in the Transvaal to qualify (in 1934) as a Hall Stone Lodge, based on its support for Grand Lodge's 'Masonic Million Peace memorial' appeal.
In the aftermath of the Second World War the Lodge went through a somewhat stagnant period but recovered by the end of the 1950s. In 1970 it decided to sell its premises as restoration had become uneconomical and this led to the Lodge providing the greater part of the cost of the Central East Rand masonic centre, completed in 1976.
An outstanding personal contribution to Freemasonry in the Transvaal was made by the WM in 1907/8, Bro R S Rigg, who was successively DG Registrar, President of the Board of General Purposes and Deputy District Grand Master between 1925 and 1940. He was also very active in the additional Orders, including being District Grand Master of the Mark and the first Provincial Prior for the Transvaal in the Knights Templar.
Reference: 'A Century of Brotherhood' by A A Cooper & D E G Vieler.
Infamous incidents[edit]
Political assassination[edit]
Chris Hani, leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), was assassinated outside his Dawn Park home in 1993[4] and is buried in the Elspark's South Park cemetery.[5]
Consumer boycott[edit]
On 30 November 1988 the town councils of Vosloorus and Reiger Park staged a consumer boycott in Boksburg. The boycott by Black and Coloured residents followed the reintroduction of petty apartheid measures by the Conservative Party (CP) controlled town council. In the local elections of October 1988 the CP won 12 of 20 council seats. At its first meeting, the new Council decreed that it would begin rigorously enforcing the Separate Amenities Act, a by-then largely ignored law that re-established Whites-only toilets, parks and sports facilities. The two Townships found enthusiastic corporate support. A number of multinational companies like Colgate-Palmolive, American Cyanamid and Unilever provided buses to ferry shoppers to stores in neighbouring towns, cancelled expansion plans and ran advertisements denouncing the racist Council. The economy of the town suffered and several businesses had to close down. Boksburg was the largest of 104 municipalities in South Africa to fall into Conservative hands.[6]
Murder: Body in suitcase[edit]
The Boksburg Lake (& Wemmer Pan & Zoo Lake) murder: On the morning of 27 October 1964 a young teacher, Mr Robert Bekker, made a grisly discovery. On the western shore of Boksburg Lake, in a suitcase was a middle-aged woman's decapitated torso, covered in plastic, brown paper and a sheet. Although there were numerous stab wounds in her chest and back, a postmortem revealed that these had been inflicted after her death. The victim had first been battered and then had her throat cut.
She had been in the water between 24 and 48 hours. Immediately, a call went out to police stations in the region for the names and descriptions of any women recently reported missing. A
number of replies were received, but none matched the description of the victim. Also, the victim's fingerprints did not match any on record. A public appeal for information led to the anticipated crop of hoaxers as well as those genuinely eager to assist. Despite front-page headlines, country-wide publicity and numerous appeals by the police, the identity of the victim remained a complete mystery.
A second piece of the puzzle unfolded at Wemmer Pan, Johannesburg, on Saturday 7 November. In the middle of a School Rowing regatta a suitcase floated to the surface, and when opened, proved to contain the Boksburg Lake victim's dismembered legs. It was also thought, by the man who pulled the case from the water, that there had been "something else" in the case which sank to the bed of the dam. It may have been the head. Immediately the area was cordoned off and police frogmen searched frantically for several days but nothing was found in the drained dam. Finally the police concluded that the "something" was, in fact, a foetus which had been devoured by underwater insects and larvae. The finder was Mr Joseph Whiteside Cole of Germiston.
Then, on 17 December, two boys fishing at Zoo Lake in Johannesburg hooked a plastic bag containing a woman's toothless head. It was in an advanced state of decomposition, making the features unrecognizable, and clearly had been in the water for some weeks.
Forensic pathologists and artists spent the next 24 hours putting together a set of drawings of the victim's face. These were published on 18 December and the police were confident that it would be merely a matter of time before the victim's identity was established. In fact it took almost four years before a positive identification was made. This was in spite of the fact that the victim's daughter, Catherine Cronje, gave the police the correct identification of the victim (Mrs Catherine Burch) and was certain that the victim was her mother. However, her family and fiancé talked her out of visiting the mortuary. Almost a year later an inquest was held in Boksburg, where the verdict was given as 'death unascertained'. The remains were buried in a pauper's grave. In August 1968, Catherine (now Mrs van Coppenhagen) decided that she would wait no longer and told a certain Police Captain, James Beeslaar, of her fears and convictions. He reopened the case and, in particular, started searching for the dead woman's husband, Ronald Burch, who had not been seen for four years.
Burch, who had matriculated at Boksburg High School, was a ladies man and had been married and divorced three times before he met Catherine Cronje, whom he married shortly after her divorce in 1962.
After Catherine's disappearance, Burch resigned from his job, told his wife's employer that she had taken ill suddenly and would not be returning to work, collected the salary owing to her and then vanished. The police later established that early in 1965 Burch had moved to 65 Berea Road, Bertrams in Johannesburg, where he lived with his widowed mother for some months.
On 27 November 1968, the police again interviewed Burch's mother (the first time being on 4 October). She initially denied that her son was staying with her, but eventually broke down and admitted that he was in a room in the back yard and gave the police a key.
When the police unlocked the door, they found Ronald Burch standing in the middle of the room wearing home-made bracelets made from tins to which he had soldered electrical wires that were plugged into a wall socket. As the door opened, Burch flicked the switch, electrocuting himself. Moments later he was dead.
It took another 10 days for the final strand in this tragedy to be unravelled. Proof positive was needed to link the dead man and woman together. This proof came from a letter, written by Catherine Burch, which Catherine van Coppenhagen handed to the police. An expert in the police fingerprinting bureau found a fingerprint on the letter that matched the one on the corpse. The body in the lake had finally been identified.
In May 1969, the inquest on Catherine Burch was reopened. Although the police had solved this bizarre murder, the actual cause of death could still not be established and was recorded once again as 'unascertained'.
Boksburg boasts a diversified industrial and mining centre. It has become one of the most important gold-producing towns on the Witwatersrand.
The following industrial companies have head offices in Boksburg:
Boksburg is home to the East Rand Mall which is one of the largest and most popular malls in Gauteng.[12]
Global consumer goods manufacturers Unilever and Colgate Palmolive have factories in Boksburg. Africa's biggest consumer brand company Tiger Brands also has a factory in Boksburg.
Transportation[edit]
Boksburg is also served with a well developed transportation system. The city is very close to the OR Tambo International Airport. Although OR Tambo International is situated in Kempton Park, the southern quarter of the runway is in the northern part of Boksburg and the city of Boksburg is also served by the OR Tambo International Airport. The city is also served by the Metrorail line, the Springs-Johannesburg Line. Boksburg is served by 3 national routes and 3 regional routes, the N3, N12, N17, R21, R29 and the R554. The N3 is a northwest–southeast national route that is connecting Boksburg with Johannesburg in the north-western part and Harrismith in the south-east. The N12 is the east–west national route that is connecting Boksburg with Daveyton in the east and with Johannesburg in the west. The N17 is another east–west national route connecting Boksburg with Springs in the east and with the southern parts of Johannesburg in the west. The R21 is a North-South Freeway, with its terminal in Vosloorus in the south and connects with the OR Tambo International, Kempton Park and Pretoria in the north. The R29 is an east–west regional route that is connecting Boksburg with Benoni in the East and with Germiston in the west. The R554 Connecting Boksburg with Springs and Brakpan in the east and with Alberton in the west.
ERPM Golf Club[edit]
ERPM Golf Club came into being in 1903 when 3 holes were built around the first school in Boksburg, a wood and iron structure that is still standing today. The building was also used as the first clubhouse and is situated on the right hand side of the first fairway.
In 1906, 18 holes were completed. The President at the time was Colonel Sir George Farrar DSO, who was instrumental in floating East Rand Property Mines Limited on 8 May 1893. The captain of the club was D McKay. The first recorded Club Champion was F N Critlends in 1913.
In 1926, under the supervision of Peter Coetzer, who served the club as Secretary / Green Keeper for 51 years, the fairways were hand planted by the members, and Fir trees were planted. Some of these trees are still a major feature of the course. Many of these old Fir trees are dying.
ERPM has a number of Springboks that were avid members of the club, namely, Alma Truss, Jill Kennedy, Jimmy Boyd, Denis Hutchison, Neville Sundelson, Neville Clarke and dean van Staden. As well as provincial players too numerous to mention, one of ERPM's well known professionals, John Bland, playing with members on a Wednesday afternoon shot an amazing 59. He also holed out on the par 4 tenth playing against the club manager in a Friday afternoon four ball.
In 1992, the club was still controlled by the mine and soon thereafter the control and running of the club was solely in the hands of members. In mid-1992 a decision was taken to revamp the course and in October of that year work started. Using the same layout the greens were completely reshaped and rebuilt, the bunkers redesigned and the water reticulation system replaced. Between 1 October 1992 and the reopening of the course on 1 May 1993 golf was played on 18 temporary greens. The chairman at the time, Willie Tredoux, had the honour of opening the new ERPM Golf Course.
ERPM Golf Club's emblem is an owl sitting on a golf club. In fact all of the mine sports club's have the same owl on their respective badges and flags.
The owl came into being as the emblem as a result of the relentless sounding of the mine hooter, at regular intervals every day and night, which was activated by the steam driven boilers.
The start of every shift was heralded by the hooter, as was the beginning and end of lunch and tea breaks. The hooter, it seems, was used for many other reasons as well.
Eventually, after numerous complaints, the hooter was silenced. However, "The Hooters", the name adopted by ERPM sport teams during the early mining years, have not been silenced. "The Hooters" are a proud bunch of sportsman and sportswomen who are respected for their competitive spirit and loyalty to the owl of ERPM.
ERPM/Boksburg Rugby Club[edit]
ERPM rugby club was established in 1903 by the ERPM mine. The club adopted the badge of the mine as its logo. The prominent part of the badge is the owl and the club nickname became Hooters. The mining rugby clubs, ERPM, Rand Leases, Simmer and Jack, Diggers and Pirates formed the core of the Transvaal Rugby Football Union. After the demise of the mine the name was changed to the Boksburg Rugby Club. The club presently form part of the Falcons Rugby Union.
Boksburg legends[edit]
Boksburg's First Mayoral Citizen: Benjamin Owen-Jones[edit]
On 1 December 1903, a Special meeting was held in the Council Chambers for the purpose of electing Boksburg's first Mayor. Prior to Captain Colley of The Health Board vacating the chair, he advised a sum of £2,892.17.3 had been transferred in favour of the Municipality. Once the formalities were completed, he then called or nominations for the Mayoral position. "Councillor J Morris J.P. moved that Councillor Benjamin Owen Jones be elected Mayor with Councillor Dobson seconding the motion" and so Boksburg's first mayor took office.
"When Mr B Owen Jones was elected Mayor of Boksburg in 1903, he also became the only mayor in the Transvaal, beating that other upstart mining camp, Johannesburg, by about an hour."
Under his administration certain roads were "macadamized", an agreement was entered into with the Rand Water a Municipal Fire Brigade was formed, electric lights were installed, sanitary system was put into practice, building, fire, and gambling by-laws were put into effect. The old iron and wood municipal offices were replaced with the town hall, a town valuer was appointed and a Voters Roll was compiled.
Mayor B Owen Jones summed up his first year in office as: "For situation our town is unsurpassed, and it can be made the ideal spot in the colony" and the lead article in the East Rand Express stated that:
"Boksburg has reached an interesting stage in its existence. In many respects it is a country village, in others it is a town. The transition in not completed."
One of Boksburg's earliest pioneers, Mr B Owen Jones, a chemist by profession, arrived in the area in the mid 1880s. He started a business supplying the new mining fraternity with the heavy chemical and laboratory equipment needed. As the population grew an entrepreneurial Mr B Owen Jones diversified his chemical business to fulfill the needs of the growing communities in the region. He started importing medicinal and fancy goods and opened a wholesale chemist shop in Boksburg followed by a manufacturing plant in Standerton and as the needs of the population grew he opened more chemist shops in Van Rhyn, Springs, Benoni, Brakpan and Standerton. A distinction to his chain of shops was the monopoly he had for Zeiss Cameras.
Besides holding the office as the first Mayor of Boksburg, a post he held three times, 1903/1904, 1904/1905 and 1911/1912, he had the distinction of holding the office of President of the Transvaal Pharmaceutical Board from 1904 to 1908. Mr B Owen Jones served on the executive board of the Transvaal Pharmaceutical Society and held office as president in 1915 to 1916. During his first mayoral term Benjamin Owen Jones also held office as President of the Boksburg Chamber of Commerce in 1903.
Mr B Owen Jones was not only our town's very first mayor, an astute businessman and an excellent administrator; he was also a very active chorist in the Presbyterian Church Choir. He died in Natal in 1920.
Nobby Henrey[edit]
"Nobby Henrey' was the personification of the Rand Pioneer. He was open-hearted, generous to a fault, his good deeds can hardly be counted, and many a Boksburg resident down on his or her luck have reason to bless the day they met him." Born in Cradock in 1861, Edward Barrett Henrey decided to try his luck at the gold diggings in Barberton at the age of eighteen. Unsuccessful, he returned home but the lure of gold got the better of him and he returned to the old Transvaal and eventually arrived in Elsburg in 1885.
In 1886, when erven were auctioned off in Boksburg he selected a stand opposite the Old Post Office and there established what was to become the renowned "Nobby's Bar." At the time he built the bar, he didn't realise that his hostelry would eventually be situated in a prime position on the shores of "Montagu's Folly," the Boksburg Lake, which became the "Beautiful Pleasure Resort of the Rand."
From the very beginning, Nobby's Bar was the centre of social life to the Boksburg pioneers. Here most of the meetings took place. It was from here that the first alumni from Voortrekker High School were sent out and it was in Nobby's Bar that the various churches held their services right up until the time first billiard table on the East Rand was imported and placed in position. In one of the outhouses he kept a pet bear sent to him by a friend. Not too much is known about the bear except that this pet of Nobby's almost chewed his daughter's ear off much to his chagrin, but there are no records of whatever became of the animal after this!
"Nobby was an auctioneer and appraiser and for a short period he was a member of the first Council. He was a founder member and "Director of Ceremonies" with the Transvaal Freemasonry Lodge in Boksburg between 1892 and 1909. Early Boksburg had its fill of strange sights, but not the least hilarious must have been seen on that day when the patient horse drawing genial "mine host" past the lake one day took fright and set off down Commissioner Street towards the sun rising. The 280 lbs Nobby finally hauled him to a standstill somewhere near the Market Square."
Edward Barrett Henrey was a full burgher of the ZAR with the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 and he didn't relish the thought of bearing arms against his own people. Nobby packed his wife and children off to safer climes, he closed his bar and, heavily disguised, he escaped to the Cape Colony by hiding under the seat of a railway carriage. Six months after the end of the war Nobby returned to Boksburg and reopened his bar.
In 1906, he and Mrs Henrey celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary by giving a dance and children's party and he promoted a "Marathon Race" for children under the age of eight. The eleven starters were to run from Boksburg East Station to the Old Post office opposite his hotel." Nobby was an active member of the Boksburg Sporting Club. He loved to play cricket and took part in games all over the Transvaal. He was a member of the cycling team and competed in the Middelburg Jubilee Cycle Race. He toured with the shottist club but his flair for cooking exceeded that of his marksmanship. All the club trophies for all the events were donated by Nobby. Despite being a large man, Nobby defeated his opponent, Mr Marksman, by a huge 40 feet in a sprint event held along Commissioner Street. From the records there is no doubt that Nobby Henrey was probably the most colourful of the Boksburg Pioneers.
References from a copy of the "East Rand Express" dated 1910, "The Baptist Union Church of Boksburg 1890 -1982" and the following article from the "S A Who's Who 1908.
Henrey, Edward Barrett, Auctioneer & Sworn Appraiser; Born 26 Nov 1861 at Cradock C.C: Son of J E Henery, Royal Navy, Educ. Cradock public School; M 1888 Emma Van der Vyver of Somerset East, C.C.: 5 Children. Hobbies: Racing, shooting, & sports generally. Came to Transvaal 1883: left 1885 to join Gen Warren's Expedition: Returned Oct 1886. Has been connected with Boksburg since its existence & one of the first members of the Sanitary Board & Town Council: is the only surviving member of the originators of Boksburg Masonic Lodge, & the oldest individual license holder in the Witwatersrand & the oldest resident of Boksburg. Proprietor of Nobby's Bar, and familiarly known as Nobby: has Gaika & Galeka War Medals, 1877-8: Basuto Medal & General Service: S A War Medal. Member of Johannesburg.
