South African Panorama

Irene is a wonderful village located less than twenty kilometres south of Pretoria. Visitors can feel the history around them whether staying at a local hotel, visiting the Smuts House Museum or touring the working farm. Residents are proud of the area's rich history and rightly so! Below are a few edited passages revealing the early history of Irene Farm. A longer version of the article appeared in a 1961 edition of South African Panorama.

A recent photo of one of the historic farm buildings (The Heritage Portal)

John Albert van der Byl was a man of foresight. Coming to Pretoria in the 1890s at the suggestion of Percy Fitzpatrick, writer, politician and adventurer, he bought with him from his previous home in the Bredasdorp district of the Cape Province a shrewd planning instinct and a love of gardens. Settling down some ten miles south-east of Pretoria, John van der Byl established himself, his wife and his young son Henry on a farm bought from a famous figure at that time, Nellmapius. But it was a farm in name only. Nellmapius, an adventurer, transport rider and financier whose name is linked with many stirring ventures in the early days of the Transvaal, had built himself a house there and surrounded it with some avenues of Casaurina trees.

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Johannesburg’s Roman Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King is an impressive landmark located on the corner of Sarotoga Avenue and End Street in Berea. It was built in the late 1950s when Johannesburg was one of the fastest growing cities in the world and opened in impressive style in 1960. Below are a few edited passages (from an article that appeared in the 1961 edition of South African Panorama) that provide a wonderful description of the architecture and craftsmanship that produced the stirring structure. 

A Great city deserves great cathedrals – this was one of the themes woven into the sixty-five years of planning which culminated in the solemn opening in Johannesburg of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King.

Set in the heart of teeming streets and the daily rush of commercial life, this cathedral was built at a cost of £250,000. It was designed by a Northern Ireland architect [Brian Gregory]. He kept the traditional form – the Latin cross – but merged the age-old majesty of cathedrals of Europe with the energetic architecture of the time.

Cathedral of Christ the King (Google Maps)

The building is a mellow rose-brown in colour. It is finished in rough concrete which gives the impression of hewn rock. From the main entrance in Saratoga Avenue the cathedral...

In 1961, South African Panorama ran a special article bidding a sad farewell to tramcars in Johannesburg (the tram had dominated the transport scene for seven decades until the rise of the trolley-bus led to its demise). Below are a few excerpts and photographs from the wonderful piece. 

Horsedrawn Tramcar heading down Commissioner Street (South African Panorama)

Tramcars have been part of the Johannesburg scene for 70 years - for almost as long, in fact, as there has been a Johannesburg. Now this colourful and somewhat noisy era in public transportation is coming to an end. The trackless, electrically-operated trolley-bus - silent and manoeuvrable in big-city road traffic - has come to stay. By the end of last year, "tram" routes which once criss-crossed Johannesburg had been reduced to four only, and any day now the last of the leviathans of the Johannesburg streets will clang to rest in the municipal sheds.

The last two designs for trams in...