2 RAND DAILY MAIL, Thursday, September 29, 1966. JOHANNESBURG 80th BIRTHDAY SUPPLEMENT. The Great Britain Hotel in Anderson Street is the oldest hotel in Johannesburg. On the wall above the entrance to the public bar is the date of building — 1888. The hotel now belongs to the Tollman Group. In recent months old city hotels including the Grosvenor, Douglas, Gladstone and Windsor have been demolished or closed. RECALLING RED DUST OF m* # Continued from Page 1. the Westdene Cemetery. At Little Falls, if you climb up many another family in the val­ the kloof, you will find great leys and kloofs of the Wit- boulders 'of soapstone. The watersrand. soapstone is the solidified rem­ Did the gold bring fortune THE RAND nant of the woodash from gen­ to the Widow Oosthuizen at erations of human habitation Langlaagte. to the Bezuiden- about the old man and I was hundreds and hundreds years you can see, here and there, the ago. houts or to the Geldenhuys remnants of stone kraals. They ashamed that he, whose father family? Why, yes. The widow were the dwellings of the people had been a conqueror in the Not far from Little Falls as I am told (but the historians that the Matabele displaced, or there are circular pits that, may know better) sold her perhaps even of people dis­ impis that later founded an em­ it is said, were gold diggings farm for £5,000 and the Bezui- placed long before the Mata­ pire in Rhodesia, should be started before Van Riebeeek denhouts did extremely well bele came. Who knows now?. grateful for a couple of cigar­ landed at the Cape Who selling vegetables to the miners. Long ago, when I was a ettes that I gave him. I worked them? Ancestors of The road to their farmhouse young reporter, I talked to a the Rain Queen? Tribesmen Stop dreaming about it! can be traced to this day; it is went no more up the pass at white-haired man on the pass from Rhodesia, well-acquainted the winding road that starts as Muldersdrif and lost all the with the trade tracks that took Siemert Road and ends at the that leads up from Mulders- history he might have told the gold dust in porcupine Go when you get a bigger share Bezuidenhout farmhouse, and it drif to Krugersdorp. As a small me. quills to the East Coast, where winds because all roads travel­ child, he told me, he had been the traders came on the mon­ led by oxen wander in wide left behind when the Matabele soon from Arabia or Persia or curves. YELLOW MEN India with cloth and geegaws? of luxury service and The Bezuidenhouts certainly fled northwards, driven away by made a better job of building the Voortrekkers, and be had The evidence is all there, at Yet long, long before the the stone kraals, and at the Í than my mother had done as never been in his life out of black men came to the Wit­ a child aged 12. Their farm­ soapstone boulders, and in the save 25% on the rail fare! house, built 40 years at least sight of his birthplace between watersrand there were yellow ground, and no doubt in old before gold was found on the Muldersdrif and the Manhaar men. There are Bushmen shel­ documents. But to this gen­ The Orange Express— Operates twice weekly in each Luggage you won’t need on the train can be sent Main Reef, stands to this day. range of mountains that fringe eration, as to my mother, it ters in a score of places on was all only yesterday. Tims, direction between Cape Town and Durban via in advance. Near it is the quietest grave­ the Magaliesberg. the Witwatersrand hills — Plan your journey now yard on the Witwatersrand, enough tomorrow for the Kimberley, Bloemfontein and Kroonstad. The shadows were falling one in the Wilds, several near archaeologists. Seats may be booked up to three months before­ with one tombstone dated 1849. The Trans-Natal — Overnight eXpress between hand, simply by ’phoning the reservation office at The Johannesburg City Coun­ for the Jan. 2—Feb. 15 Johannesburg and Durban. Departs 6.00 p.m. your nearest station— or, if you would like every­ cil bought the remaining part daily in both directions, arrives 9.00 a.m. of the Bezuidenhout farm manv thing arranged for you including hotel bookings years ago. There are big oak S.A. Railway consult your nearest S.A . Railway Travel Bureau. trees there and not a few of the thorn trees that must have Concession Period covered the valley when the IOHANNESBBBG 80lh ANNIVERSARY Here are the dates _ first Voortrekkers rode into it. Think o f it... no crowds! Room to move. A big, LOVED THE LAND — 1886 — 1966 — big share o f the wide open spaces. Sightseeing to to plan your holiday around! FASHION FAVOURITES THROUGH THE YEARS— AT ANSTEY'S your heart’s content— at a leisurely pace, and more i Across the valley, on the Ken- holiday luxury just for you! Í sington side of the farm, is the Hotel bookings are easier, your train journey more Start the forward journey during the periods shown second house the Bezuidenhouts — and save a quarter o f the usual fare. relaxing. There are more people to see to your built. It was, in its day, a man­ Norman Anstey & Co needs. Y o u ’re the centre o f attention! sion, and if it is not a National ELOFF Monument it ought to be. STREET and at DATE I The Bezuidenhout family Y ou’ ll enjoy swift, quiet train travel at its best. The FR O M A N Y T O A N Y kept its right to the graveyard DURBAN dining and lounge car facilities are excellent. Sleep STATION IN: STATION IN: near the first house and one in comfort, and travel secure in the knowledge that young Bezuidenhout told me. “I knew when I was a pilot bomb­ you’ll reach your destination feeling relaxed. 2 n d JA N U A R Y *67— T R A N S V A A L REPUBLIC AND 15th FEBRUARY ’67 A N D N A T A L SOUTH WEST ing Rommel’s troops in the Western Desert that I would AFRICA not be killed; I am fated to be Train travel during concession buried with my ancestors in Bezuidenhout Valley.” periods offers these As for the Geldenhuys family, Concession tickets are subject to certain minimum old man Geldenhuys in 1886, as advantages too! fares, and are valid for one month. Return journeys always in his life, loved the may not be started before six days from commence­ land. When Struben came fos­ Reduced hotel tariffs. Book hotel accommodation ment o f the forward journey. Concession tickets are sicking around Krugeysdorp he What better time is there to travel, to go on holiday, through your nearest S.A. Railway Travel Bureau not valid on the Blue Train. saw the signs of upheaval and or to take a business trip ? It costs less to have your for a minimum period o f seven days, and reduced changed his farm there for one fun and get around. Expenses and tariffs are tariffs will apply at certain hotels. at Germiston. The gold miners For full information or bookings consult your nearest drove him away from that, so generally lower at concession times. And, to top Special motor-car concession. A reduction o f 50 % S.A. Railway Travel Bureau, Station Master or he bought Braamfontein. it all, rail fares are reduced by a whacking 2 5 % Í on the already low tourist motor-car charges is authorised Travel Agent. The gold mining companies allowed to holders o f F O U R or more return tickets would not let him farm there, either; they wanted the land Plan to go on one of the issued at the full and/or half ordinary fare or for housing. Old man Gelden­ concession fare for travel by rail in the Republic. huys bought Emmarentia named crack main-line trains. (Rates for S.W .A. on application.) if I remember rightly for his mother and his wife, and grew And remember . vegetables, peaches and pota­ The Trans-Karoo— This express operates five times Children under seven years accompanying adults, toes for the mining camp. Pre­ a week in both directions between Pretoria, Johan­ travel free— those from seven to fifteen half fare. sently he held high public of­ nesburg, Kimberley and Cape Town. SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS fice and was at all times a . VZ003142/T./N. - j friend of moderation and eom- . monsense in politics. HEFTY SUM But the city caught up with him at Emmarentia. too, and after two or three decades his WE SALUTE JOHANNESBURG CONGRATULATIONS DOUGLAS, SON & PUGH (PTY.) LTD., were in busi- J family had nothing except a ness and advertised in the Rand Daily Mail in their hefty sum in the bank and a few hundred township plots. Lace Robes—very chic—from 8 Guineas. ON THE OCCASION OF ITS issue of Friday, September 26, 1902. ^ JOHANNESBURG Nowadays the sons farm be­ tween Muldersdrif and Sterk- 80th BIRTHDAY! WE ARE HAPPY TO CELEBRATE WITH < ON YOUR fontein. I predict that within The oxwagen has made way for the jetliner; the skyscraper has JOHANNESBURG ITS < this generation they will be replaced the tin shanty; mine dumps obscure the mimosas on the driven from there, too, stripped horizon — PROGRESS! 80th BIRTHDAY ! of everything but a few cattle Likewise the firm of L.