‘Diggings’ declared, gold rush takes off

Nine farms on the Witwatersrand, from Driefontein in the east to Roodepoort in the west, are declared public diggings on September 8 1886. After the Great Trek (1835-46), stock farmers started settling in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), some in the area where Johannesburg rises in 1886.

Each was entitled to at least one farm, measuring 1,500 morgen (about 3,100 acres). The first recorded discovery of gold on the Rand was by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein. George Harrison discovered an outcrop of the Main Reef of gold on the farm Langlaagte in February 1886. More discoveries soon followed, with Turffontein (where Colonel Ignatius Ferreira set up camp to serve as a centre for diggers), Doornfontein, Braamfontein, Klein Paardekraal and Elandsfontein among the other famous farms. Captain Carl von Brandis is appointed mining commissioner on September 18. On November 8 a diggers committee is elected to assist him. A triangular wedge named Randjeslaagte, surrounded by farms, is surveyed as a township. The first auction for the 600 stands takes place on December 8. The settlement is named after two ZAR officials, Christiaan Johannes Joubert and Johannes Rissik. Miners from around the world flock to the area and the population grows to 102,000 by 1895. In 1897 the government approves a town council for Johannesburg.