July 17, 2006
By Lucille Davie
THREE historic monuments, reflecting different aspects of the city's history, have been given a gentle pampering.
The Oudstryders Monument, the Randjeslaagte beacon, and the Indian War Memorial, collectively over 270 years old, have been restored.
The Oudstryders (Afrikaans for veterans) Monument, built in 1938 on the summit of Cottlesloe Hill overlooking the Egoli Gas plant in Milpark, is a poignant reminder of the bitter South African War of 1899 to 1902, fought between the Afrikaners and the British, with help from blacks and Indians.
The Indian War Memorial, when it was unveiled in 1902
The monument is a 2m-tall rectangular box, inscribed with 41 small plaques to men who fought in the war. The plaques are in sandstone, granite, marble or slate. The sandstone plaques have been weathered to the extent that the inscriptions are no longer legible. Fifteen of these plaques are beyond repair.
The monument was erected in 1938, at the centenary of the Great Trek, and was unveiled by the city's mayor, Maldwyn Edmund.
Its varied plaques don't distract from its solemnity, according to heritage stalwart Flo Bird. "It has a lovely individuality - it's like a pile of letters."
The monument stands among rocky outcrops on the south-eastern corner of the New Nation School and has two tall aloes for company. A wire fence surrounding the monument has been cut through, making access to the structure easy. Garbage, including fragments of broken glass, litters the site.
Restoration, done by Jim Bolt of Boltsons, involved cleaning all the cracks and making them waterproof, cutting the grass to make the monument visible, and repairing the fence. The marble plaques have been protected to slow the weathering process. Bolt has positioned a new, large granite plaque at the bottom of the monument, with up to 30 names listed on it.
Randjeslaagte beacon
The Randjeslaagte beacon, on the crest of Boundary Road, at its intersection with Willie Street in Parktown, has had three bronze plaques stolen. A pyramid shape made of plaster, it is embedded on surface rocks, with granite chippings around its base.
The beacon, declared a national monument in 1965, marks the apex of a triangle of land that remained after white farmers settled in the area in the 1860s, each taking a slice of land. The triangle marks the beginnings of the gold-rush town of Johannesburg that grew after gold was discovered in the dusty veld by George Harrison in 1886.
The sides of the triangle are End Street in the east, Diagonal Street in the west, and Commissioner Street in the south.
All three points would have had a beacon, but the two in the CBD have made way for buildings. The beacons would originally have been a pile of rocks with a white pole protruding from them, and would have been put in place in around September 1886, a month before the town was declared on 4 October 1886.
In 1966, on the 80th anniversary of Johannesburg, a bronze plaque was unveiled by mayor BD Eagar - probably in the same year the rocks were covered in a concrete layer.
Bolt has pressure-cleaned the plaster and the face brick wall in front of the beacon and applied a protective coat to the plaster and face brick. A palisade fence has been erected around the structure.
In October this year, on the 120th birthday of the city, a ceramic plaque will be placed on the beacon.
Indian War Memorial
The 3m-tall sandstone
Indian War Memorial on the Observatory ridge, Joburg's highest ridge at 1 808m above sea level, had become obscured by tall grass and trees. The grass and trees have been removed and the cracked cement has been replaced. New marble chips have been placed around the base of the monument, the marble plaques have been polished and protected, and the silver fence has been re-sprayed.
The Oudstryders Monument, with the Dutch Reformed Church and the city in the background
The memorial commemorates the contribution made by some 9 000 Indians, mostly brought into the country from India, then a British colony, to bolster the British forces against the Boers. They took up non-combative functions like stretcher bearers, veterinary assistants, farriers, grooms, and water and ammunition carriers, and were based at a remount camp below the ridge, in what is now Bezuidenhout Park.
The monument was unveiled on 31 October 1902, exactly five months after the war ended. In July 2005 the monument received a new lightning conductor, an 18m galvanised steel mask, placed several metres from the monument. Being the highest point in the city, the ridge is particularly vulnerable to lightning strikes.
The City recently restored the Miners' Monument at the top of Rissik Street, giving it a protective coat by means of a process called repatination.
The lighting and water feature will be repaired in the next financial year.
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