Industrial Heritage

Kathy Munro's three part series on the Yeoville Water Tower comes to an end with this piece (click here to view the series index). The article highlights the overall German contribution to early Johannesburg and suggests that the German connection to the Yeoville Water might be a reason why its origins were concealed in 1914/1915. The article also sets out the overall significance of the landmark structure. The piece was first published in the December 2018 issue of Architecture SA. Thank you to Paul Kotze for giving us permission to publish.

Dr. Clive Chipkin, in an article in The Star newspaper (23/10/1980) wrote about the prima-facie evidence of German involvement in Johannesburg’s growth. South Africa imported heavy rails from F Krupp of Essen or from BVG of Bochum. Locomotives and steam engines were imported; for example, the firm Reunert and Lenz were agents for imported machines, engines and engineering equipment.
 
The German presence on the Witwatersrand and in Johannesburg was evidenced by early mining pioneers. Mr. George Albu came from Berlin, Mr. Julius Jeppe hailed from Rostock and Mr. Hermann Eckstein was born in Stuttgart. Mr. Carl Hanau was another Rand entrepreneur of German origin. Sir Julius Wernher was a prominent Randlord, who was born in Darmstadt. He was a key figure in the Eckstein company (Corner House) who later became anglicised. There were many others. German place names were in evidence in early Johannesburg – a Kaiser Street, a Wilhelm Street, Hohenheim the Phillips’ home in Parktown, the forest of Sachsenwald (that later became Saxonwold). The German Lutheran Church...

Below is Part 2 of Kathy Munro's wonderful series on the Yeoville Water Tower (click here to view series index). The piece takes an in-depth look at the historic blueprint and reveals the secrets of the water tower's origins. The article first appeared in the December 2018 issue of Architecture SA. Thank you to Paul Kotze for giving us permission to publish and to Gail Wilson for the use of some of her magnificent photographs.

It is literally an architectural “blueprint” or technical drawing. Firstly, there is a heading in German, Wasserturm mit Behälter von 50,000 gallons Fassungsraum (translation: Water tower with the capacity of 50 000 gallons). This pinpoints the German origin. We are able to date the tower with accuracy, as there is a date and place in the bottom right-hand corner – “Dortmund, d 2nd Januar 1913”. 

The top right-hand corner states Com [commission no] 2044) Blatt 1 [page 1]. We can assume that this was a commission and the first page of technical drawings. On the top left- hand corner is the name Fa. Geo L Kűstner, Johannesburg. Thus, there is a link to a Johannesburg man and to the tender mentioned in the annual reports of the Town Engineer.

Yeoville Water Tower Blueprint (click here to view full...

Below is the sixth part of John Lincoln's series on the history of Cullinan (click here to view the series index). It looks at some impressive mining history and reveals the vast scale of operations at the Premier / Cullinan Mine. As always, the photos from the Cullinan Mine Archive are remarkable. 

To further facilitate the supply of water to the mine, a shaft was opened on the site of a borehole, which struck water at a depth of 300 feet (90 metres) and the water continued to flow out to the surface thereafter. The dimensions of the shaft were 14 feet (4 metres) and 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 metres) and during 1904 it was sunk to a depth of 195 feet (60 metres). It was situated in the north-west corner of the pipe, in blue ground, which looked very promising and pulverised freely. At this depth the shaft was making 600 gallons per hour. It was the intention to sink the shaft to 300 feet, where the water had been struck.

By 1903 a level of 40 ft. had been attained in the open pit. In 1908 a level of 160 feet (50 metres) was being worked and when the mine closed for the first time in 1914 the depth of the mine was 310 feet (100 metres). By 1918 it had increased to 410 feet (125 metres).

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Below is the fourth installment of John Lincoln's series on Cullinan based on his book 'Stories from a Diamond Mine'. It looks at the magnificent engineering achievement of getting a reliable supply of water to the Premier Mine. Click here to view the series index.

In the very early days there was no concern as to the adequacy of the water supply. There were numerous springs in the pan that was to become the mine, and there was also a strong source from a stream which used to flow past Venter Motors (now Cullinan motors, and which was the site of a mill, the garage has since closed down due to the road now likely to fall into the ever expanding open pit.). Two boilers, supplying four steam pumps, were erected in this vicinity and it was from this dam that the mine obtained its water supply.    

When the Minnaars’ portion of the farm was bought, a dam was also constructed at Danger Bend. Although accounts from the Minnaar family suggest that the dam was already there, it seems likely that the mine probably built up the dam for increased capacity. By 1905 the water supply was found to be inadequate and alternative supplies of water needed to be found.

An engineer, Mr D Gerrand, was commissioned by the Board of Directors to investigate a suitable source of supply.

After completion of his initial survey Mr Gerrand came to the conclusion that the point from which the mine could obtain an adequate supply was...

In the article below, journalist Lucille Davie explores the painful history behind the Worker's Library and Museum in Newtown. The piece was originally published on the City of Joburg's website on 10 October 2008. Click here to view more of Davie's work.

The Newtown Workers' Electricity Compound, the last remaining example of a workers' compound, exposes the brutal underbelly of living conditions for black workmen in apartheid Johannesburg. It is to be opened in 2009 as a museum commemorating the municipal workers of the city.

Men used to sleep in long rows of hard concrete "beds", next to one another, a small concrete lip separating one from the next, with no privacy. A wooden platform above the concrete beds accommodated more men. Each dormitory contained a coal stove, used for heating and cooking, while dishes and probably clothes were washed in a long slanted concrete basin directly outside the dorms. Bathrooms with open showers were at the eastern side of the building. 

Long rows of hard concrete "beds" (Lucille Davie)

Built in 1913 and referred to nowadays as the Workers' Library and Museum, the Newtown Workers' Electricity Compound consists of three semi-detached "shiftmen's" or artisans' cottages, and a stand-alone manager's house. Directly behind them are several corrugated iron shacks, housing domestic workers who worked for the artisans and manager.

And...

Driving on the gravel road from Edenville to Heuningspruit in the Free State one will notice a strange looking tower sticking out from between the trees. What is/was that?

The answer is that it was a lime kiln, that is a technical term to describe an oven or furnace used to heat limestone to convert it to burned lime for use on the gold mines (as a neutralising agent and as building material). It was owned by the New Honingspruit Lime Works.

What remains of the plant is the kiln, the limestone mine, shells of some buildings and some hardware. It took a bit of detective work to figure out what the process was. The first step in the process was to mine the limestone. Limestone is essentially calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Pieces of limestone of a specific size were loaded onto koekepans, transported to the kiln and hoisted to the top. The fire in the kiln was burning continuously with loading and withdrawal at the same time, except weekends. It was filled in layers of 3000 lb (pounds) limestone followed by 800 lb anthracite (coal).

Heuningspruit Lime Kiln (Horst Müller)

The reaction is represented by the following chemical equation:

CaCO3 + heat--> CaO + CO2...

The late Fred Dibnah, although unknown to most South Africans, was a household name in Britain. He was a true English eccentric who had a passion for all sorts of machinery powered by steam and he spent much of his life studying their construction and history.

He was a man born out of his time, as by the time he started work in the 1950’s, steam power in industry was being superseded by newer technology in the form of electric powered machines.

Born and bred in Bolton, Lancashire, he grew up in the industrial heartland of Britain, where all around him could be seen the “dark satanic mills” of the William Blake poem “Jerusalem” (later to become the hymn/anthem of the “Last Night at the Proms”, at the Royal Albert Hall).

His chosen profession was to be a steeplejack whereby he would climb up church steeples and mill chimneys in order to make repairs. Over time his expertise extended to the demolition of redundant chimneys and all told he felled ninety (90) chimneys, notably without the use of explosives. His method was to drill out courses of bricks at the base of the chimney, however not all at once but a bit at a time, then replacing the bricks with large timber packs before drilling out more bricks. When he had drilled and packed (on the side which the chimney was to fall) he would then set fire to the timbers, which would burn away, causing the chimney to fall...

Forty years ago at the 48th Academy Awards (1976) O.J. Simpson opened the envelope and announced that “GREAT” had won the Oscar for the Best Animated Short Film. The recipient was Bob Godfrey the film’s maker.

The movie “GREAT” is a classic of animation and in a mere 30 minutes tells the story of the most famous of all the Victorian engineers - Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Alas the film has been out of circulation for sometime and is briskly taken off “You Tube” whenever it is uploaded. I remember watching it at the Drive-In in 1977, as a “Short” and although I have forgotten what the Main Feature was, I still remember well watching “GREAT”.

Documentary Poster

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) is very much revered in Britain and the reverence borders on cult worship. The title of the book “BRUNEL - The Man Who Built the World” (by Steven Brindle, published in 2005) shows the measure of the esteem accorded to him.

On the 2002 BBC television series “GREAT BRITONS - The great debate”, the Top Ten Britons were chosen (as whittled down from 100). In the first episode Jeremy Clarkson (late of “Top Gear”) gave a compelling argument as to why Brunel should be the Greatest Briton of all time, saying that he was “The most prolific and talented engineer and innovator of them all”. When the votes of a poll (more a popularity contest)...

In 2016 Tiger Brands celebrates 120 years of existence. The origins of the company are revealed in a highly significant yet neglected brick and stone complex of multi-storey industrial buildings in Moorreesburg in the Western Cape. In August 1998, Laura Robinson, then working for the old National Monuments Council (NMC), wrote the following:

The National Monuments Council is most interested in the building complex as a whole, both the corrugated iron structure, as well as the permanent brick and stone building, and the chimney across the road. In our opinion the complex is as significant as some of the (few) remaining industrial buildings in Cape Town, and I refer particularly to the Old Castle Brewery in Woodstock and the historical buildings in the Breweries Complex in Newlands, which has been successfully restored by the well know architect, G Fagan, and is now a historical monument. Buildings of this type are becoming increasingly rare in this country and a fine example such as this is worthy of preservation. In many European countries as well as the United Kingdom and America, industrial buildings are highly valued and are re-used in a number of creative and exciting ways; these have proved to be an extremely valuable asset to local tourism.

The NMC would certainly not be prepared to consider approving the demolition of the Old Tiger Oats buildings in Moorreesburg and would suggest that the potential for creative re-use and restoration/renovation of the complex be explored.

Unfortunately, since that period, the complex has gone through a marked deterioration, with...