Even their famous head office lies dormant,” says Lunderstedt. De Beers’ involvement in Kimberley evaporated in the past 20 years, with merely a footprint left. “The Anglo Boer War and the siege of Kimberley was the last big event in Kimberley for the next 100 or more years. He was proved to be wrong, but in diamond mining he introduced chambering and the block cave system, which are still used today. The so-called randlords or mining magnates were all connected to Kimberley in some way.Īlfred Beit and Sir Joseph Robinson (Kimberley’s mayor in 1880) first made their money during the diamond rush.Īt first, Cecil Rhodes and his De Beers Mining Company, the forerunner to De Beers Consolidated Mines, did not rush to Johannesburg because the general manager, Gardner Williams (who had experience in gold mining in the USA), did not think the gold reef was viable. The discovery of gold in 1886 in massive payable quantities in the Transvaal and Pilgrim’s Rest set off the gold rush. This day was proclaimed as the birthday of Kimberley in 1971.” On 16 July 1871 diamonds were discovered at the spot where the Big Hole is today. “Before July 1871, only the Du Toitspan, Bultfontein and De Beers mines and their villages existed. Water was expensive, having to be hauled from the Vaal River. Many started hotels, which were more like tents.Ĭrime was rampant, and it was essential to stash one’s possessions under the mattress. The only ones making good money were those supplying goods like alcohol, food and water to the diggers.

The name of the blue diamondiferous volcanic rock, ‘kimberlite’, is derived from the city’s name.”Īt first the diggers struggled in Kimberley. “The city was officially named Kimberley on 5 July 1873, after John Wodehouse, the Earl of Kimberley. Previously most residential buildings were modest, ramshackle structures of mud bricks, corrugated gates and wooden frames.ĭunluce House was one of the first houses to boast modern plumbing, baths and showers. This is in comparison to Rudd House, which was mostly built from material brought by wagon before the railhead reached Kimberley.

The railway line enabled the transportation of building materials and allowed for the construction of sumptuous houses such as Dunluce. “De Beers, via a variety of subsidiaries, owned and operated the railway line from Kimberley onwards, after which it was handed back to the government in 1910.” By 1899, it reached Bulawayo in the newly named Rhodesia. “With Rhodes becoming a member of the Cape parliament, the railway reached Kimberley in 1885. Anyone who wanted to make a fortune on the diamond fields had to take a stagecoach, hitch a ride on a wagon, ride a horse, or walk from Wellington,” Lunderstedt says. “When diamonds were discovered, the railway from Cape Town ended at Wellington. “Cecil John Rhodes, politician and mining magnate, made his fortune in Kimberley, especially with the establishment of De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888. The first aviation school in South Africa was established in Kimberley, as well as the first mining school before it moved to the University of the Witwatersrand. By 1881, they were operating with bright lights underground.” At least three companies already used electricity in underground mining by 1879. Kimberley was the first town in the southern hemisphere to be equipped with electric streetlights in 1882. “This new-found wealth brought modern innovations from all over.

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