Witwatersrand Origins

In the article below, gold expert Neil Phillips looks at the origins, growth & decline of the greatest goldfield on earth. He also hints at hopes of new discoveries. The article was first published in the The Australian Geologist, issue 200, page 21.

One quarter of the World’s gold has been mined from the Witwatersrand goldfields around Johannesburg in South Africa. At its peak in 1970, gold was the mainstay of the South African economy, the dominant export, and source of employment for 500,000 underground miners every day. Anecdotally, those miners supported an average of ten others in extended families in South Africa and surrounding countries. Unfortunately, the last fifty years have been one of constant decline in annual Witwatersrand gold production to now be under 10 percent of its peak.

History of Witwatersrand Basin gold production rate (Christopher J. H. Hartnady)

Much has been written about the discovery of the Witwatersrand and its national and global impact. The discovery itself was early in 1886 by George Harrison, and likely in February of that year. In mid-1886 just months after his discovery, Harrison described himself to the State Secretary as having long experience as an Australian gold digger and added his opinion...

In all I have read about the Witwatersrand I have not come to know precisely when and by whom the name was coined. I am hoping that members of The Heritage Portal can throw some light on the subject, and also reflect on the reason for the given name.

In regard to the name Witwatersrand, in English the commonly quoted meaning is “The Ridge of White Waters”, a derivative of the more direct English wording “White Waters Ridge”. However, the name is Dutch; it was given to the regional landform by early Dutch-speaking Boer pioneers whom, because of their lifestyle, had a fundamental appreciation of the geomorphic significance in Southern Africa of this particular landform (discussed further below). Other white pioneers and missionaries, including thousands of English speaking “Uitlanders” who flocked to the Witwatersrand after the discovery of gold in conglomerate in 1886, naturally perpetuated the English rendition of the word.

The usually cited English meaning of the of the Dutch name, Witwatersrand, mentioned above, I believe is wrong.

Inside cover of the book by William Scully published in 1912

How the English version of the name Witwatersrand was, or became, commonplace is exemplified by a report in 1878 by Alfred Armfield, the Inspector of Goldfields for Sir Theosophilus Shepstone’s government in Pretoria from 1877, cited in Cartwright (1962). The...