William Gaul

Approaching from “Old Melville” (Seventh Street), along Fourth Avenue, we cross Main Road, (which I think used to be called “the Muldersdrift Road”), where we find today a shopping centre, with a public swimming pool hidden somewhere in its bowels. This was where the Municipal Swimming Pool used to lie. The existing pool (pictured above and below) cannot meaningfully be compared to the wonderful facility that existed 50 years ago.

A zoomed in shot of the existing pool (Google Maps)

September 1st was always a red-letter day, to be looked forward to with eager anticipation, since this was the opening of the “swimming season” – yet invariably we were told, when the day finally arrived, that “it was better to wait for the first rains” before taking the literal plunge. What the first rains had to do with it was, and remains, difficult to understand: perhaps if we were about to swim in a river or dam, still polluted after the long, stagnant winter, this idea would be comprehensible – but the “baths” in Melville had a truly impressive filtration plant that kept the water crystal clear at all times.

Surrounded by a sturdy eight-foot high yellow-brick wall, the “baths” as we referred to them (always in the plural) were truly a facility of proper municipal proportions: a veritable “pleasure-dome”, provided by a...

This is one of those stories we love to publish. A hidden piece of heritage revealed by passionate activists on the ground. Thank you to William Gaul for sending it through. We hope you enjoy  it as much as we have. [Originall Published 13 June 2015]

In the absence of any "official" name, I have chosen to refer to the waterfall as the "Melpark Waterfall" - although, again, "Melpark" is not a name officially recognised by the City of Johannesburg, but has long been used by residents along Rustenburg Road between the bends in that road; to the east, the road is known as Kew Road, and after the bends in the north-west, the suburb becomes Emmarentia where the road intersects with Barry Hertzhog Avenue. Rustenburg Road continues about two kilometres to the north-west where Barry Hertzhog ends in Victory Park. Apparently, the name "Rustenburg Road" existed even before the proclamation of Johannesburg, and was the main road across the Highveld to the town of Rustenburg, presumably from Heidelberg. It should be pointed out that the waterfall in question is often confused with the artificial falls created by the CoJ about 25 years ago in what is known as the "Aloe Park", falling between Hillcrest Road in Parkview and Barry Hertzhog Avenue, due to the relative proximity of the two falls.

The Melpark Waterfall occurs about a kilometre downstream of the confluence of three perennial north-flowing streams which together form the Braamfontein Spruit. These streams are the stream which rises in...