![]() ![]() ![]() Our quaint publicity brochure promotes the city as a holiday centre, a modern city, an educational centre, a financial hub and a sporting Mecca. It was a city that was contained with a single central town centre with new affluent suburbs emerging to the north. It had a rateable value of £62 million and a population of 342 000 (1931 was a census year). Achieving city status in 1928, Johannesburg had arrived at a state of permanence with its pompous imperial city hall and a solidly English looking stone cathedral announcing its civic status. English speaking South Africans were proud to be part of the British Empire and called England "home ". In 1931 Johannesburg was described as "the miracle of empire" and a "wonder city of the world", with its gold mining industry, its thrusting self-conscious brashness and an appealing highveld climate. ![]() The modernity of Johannesburg of 1931, when the city was 45 years old, was what people talked about. ![]() No technical or engineering problem was beyond solution whether in mining, water or transport. It was a city that prided itself on education. It was a youthful city that drew immigrants from the countryside and from abroad. One is struck by the boundless energy of the people of Johannesburg in the thirties. Johannesburg in 1931 had a coat of arms, in green and gold that reflected the mining history of the city with the 3 ore crushing stamps called dollies and the city's motto was Fortiter et Recte (with Valour and Justice). The early thirties saw drought conditions but the water problem was solved by the Rand Water Board's construction of the Barrage on the Vaal River. The future of Johannesburg was assured (though a Star survey of 1936 revealed that respondents thought that "Johannesburg was probably here to stay”) despite the lack of a substantial local water supply. The wealth of city was firmly anchored in gold, and by 1931 the geologists knew that the dip and the line of the reefs was extensive and waiting for exploration, mapping and exploitation. per 1000 gallons, there were 200 tram cars, the fire department protected the city expanse of 82 square miles with the most modern of fire engines, Ellis Park Swimming bath could accommodate 3000 spectators, 15 500 people borrowed books from the Public Library.Ī mine dump to the south of the city in 2012 (The Heritage Portal)īy 1930 the cumulative value of gold of the Witwatersrand from 1886 topped £1 billion. The subtext of such guides, published by our city, was actually to sell the city to its own citizens and make them look about in wonder and feel gratitude for the many amenities and comforts of their modern urban existence provided by the City Council. This small book has the charm of the era of the thirties, a decade when Johannesburg changed speedily and embraced modernity and overseas culture. Its opening chapter is Johannesburg as a "holiday centre ", a rather optimistic possibility but in 1931, colonial, provincial, brash, young Johannesburg was on a selling mission to the world. Rough guide or Lonely Planet it was not! There is no map, although the a map of Johannesburg's transport network and suburbs was also available ( click here to view the 1931 Johannesburg transport map). It's all about why the visitor should come to Johannesburg for a visit or why the immigrant should make a new home here, but it's hardly the sort of book one would tuck under into a backpack to guide a visit to the sights of the city. ![]()
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