Page 376 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

374  THE ARID INTERIOR

5 Kimberley VISITORS’ CHECKLIST

The first Diamond Rush in the Kimberley district took place in Practical Information
1869 when diamonds were found in the walls of a house on Road map D3. * 225,500.
n Jan Smuts Blvd, 053 830 6911.
the Bultfontein farm. In July 1871, prospectors camped at the ∑ solplaatje.org.za
base of a small hill, 4.5 km (3 miles) to the northwest. The
party’s cook was sent to the summit as punishment for a Transport
~ 7 km (4 miles) S of town.
minor offence and returned with a diamond. Within two £ Old de Beers Rd. @ Shell
years, New Rush tent town, renamed Kimberley in 1873, had Ultra City.
become home to 50,000 miners. By the time Cecil John
Rhodes (see p56) arrived, 3,600 claims were being worked.
Oppenheimer, the German-
born diamond buyer who in
1917 founded the giant Anglo
American Corporation.
E William Humphreys
Art Gallery
Cullinan Crescent, Civic Centre.
Tel 053 831 1724. Open 8am–
4:45pm Mon–Fri, 10am–4:45pm
Sat, 9am–11:45pm Sun.
& 7 0 ∑ whag.co.za
This gallery houses a superb
A re-created street scene at The Big Hole: Kimberley Mine Museum collection of paintings by
European masters and South
Exploring Kimberley original fittings. The 90-m (295-ft) African artists.
The angular street pattern of viewing platform over the Big
Kimberley is in contrast with the Hole allows visitors to look into E McGregor Museum
neat grid pattern characteristic the murky lake below, and there S Atlas Rd, Belgravia. Tel 053 839
of other South African cities, a is a mock-up of a mine shaft, too. 2717. Open 9am–5pm Mon–Sat,
legacy of its formative, tent- The Real Diamond Display holds 2–5pm Sun. & 7 8 - =
town years. Although reminders replicas of uncut stones. ∑ museumsnc.co.za
of the past are not always Cecil John Rhodes stayed in
apparent, Kimberley has several P Kimberley Club this building during the South
inter esting historic landmarks 70–72 Du Toitspan Rd. African War. It now houses a
that are well worth visiting. Tel 053 832 4224. Open daily. 7 museum of natural and cultural
∑ kimberleyclub.co.za history, with ethno logical and
P The Big Hole: Kimberley Dating from 1896, this lux urious archaeological displays, as well
Mine Museum club was the meeting place of as rock paintings.
West Circular Rd. Tel 053 839 4600. the mining magnates and saw
Open 8am–5pm daily. & 7 8 0 much wheeling and dealing. E Duggan-Cronin Gallery
= ∑ thebighole.co.za The club also has a boutique Egerton Rd. Tel 053 839 2700.
Centred around the Big Hole, hotel and conference facilities. Open 9am–4pm Mon–Fri.
this museum tells South Africa’s The gallery contains 8,000
diamond-mining history through Y Oppenheimer Memorial photographs of anthropolo gical
several elements. The Old Mining Gardens interest taken over 20 years by
Village consists of cobbled streets Jan Smuts Blvd. Alfred Duggan-Cronin, who,
lined with buildings dating to In the gardens, five bronze arriving in Kimberley in 1897,
the late 19th century, including miners surround the Digger’s became deeply interested in
a watchmaker’s shop, a Fountain. A marble colonnade the indigenous people of the
pawnbroker’s and an old bar with contains a bust of Sir Ernest Northern Cape.

The McGregor Museum, Kimberley
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p391 and p411

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