In 1978, the following article was published in the Annual Magazine of the Sandton Historical Association and has been lightly edited for re-publication. It was written by Agnes Kulenkampff (née Pedlar), an enthusiastic contributor to the Sandton Historical Association for many years. A librarian at the Transvaal Education Department, Agnes died very young in March 1991.
Sandton was founded as a separate municipality in 1969. The area is now within the enlarged city of Johannesburg. See also
See also: Memorial to President John F Kennedy in Sandton
Sandton is a young municipality. Most of its 18 modern schools were built for the children of white residents who had settled fairly recently in the area. Shortly after the end of the South African War, Rivonia Primary School (the successor to Rietfontein 15 School) was the first to instruct the children of the outlying small farmers. Witkoppen Farm School was the next, in 1927, to try to spread the use of the three Rs.
An Englishman named George Mason farmed along the old Pretoria Road just past Fourways in what was a very rural and sparsely populated area. Mason asked his maid, Selina Moshimane, to sound out the wishes of the local people and they welcomed the idea of opening a school. Mason consequently donated about two acres to the “local native people”. The land was bequeathed in perpetuity to them in his Will.
The Anglican Board of Management controlled the new school because Africans could not own land in “white” areas...
