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Lifespan:  1856 SA Scotland - 1938 Heidelberg Occupation: Medical doctor Family: He married Catherine Elizabeth "Cassie" Marrable (1861 Scotland - 1930 Heidelberg). They had three children. Cassie and James O'Reilly. Source: Von Geusau Album via The Citizen. Biography The O'Reilleys moved from Scotland to Heidelberg in the 1880s.³ O'Reilly served as district surgeon in Heidelberg, with records noting him in the post as early as 1888 (he held it for at least 11 years before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899). During the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), O'Reilly and his wife served on an ambulance train to Elandslaagte after consulting the Red Cross in Pretoria. Cassie O'Reilly worked as an (unqualified) nurse, including in the context of concentration camps or related relief efforts. She was voted onto the hospital committee and given the nursing portfolio. Due to local Afrikaner politics, Cassie was forced to resign from the hospital committee...

Full name:  Heinrich Julius Friedrich Christiaan Ernest Ueckermann Lifespan:  1827 Germany - July 1883 Heidelberg (Gauteng) Occupation: Trader, cooper, politician Wife: Married Elizabeth Mason (1831 England - 1910 Pretoria) in 1850 in Pietermaritzburg. They had 13 children. Heinrich Ueckermann Timeline Biography Ueckermann arrived in South Africa in 1849. He disembarked in Durban and set up business in Pietermaritzburg , where he initially worked as a cooper and later ran a store. After the birth of their first son (1852), the family began extensive ox-wagon treks into the interior (as far as the Soutpansberg), during which at least one daughter was born (1854). The inland did not meet their expectations, so they returned to Pietermaritzburg. After the birth of their second son (in 1856) , they moved inland again.³ Ueckermann met Jacob Maré on the farm Eendracht (on the northern slope of the Suikerbosrand). While staying there, he walked the Suikerbosrand hills hun...

Built: 1946-1965 Architect: Kennedy, Furner, Irvine-Smith & Joubert Aerial photo with legend. (Source: SARN, 1959) Earlier history Park Station (First) Park Station (Second) Park Station Third " Prior to 1946 alternative station sites were investigated by both local and overseas experts but it was clear that by far the most satisfactory solution was to take over the old Wanderers Ground situated immediately north of the station and to build facilities on a bold scale over the increased area thus made available. "³ By the late 1940s Johannesburg’s railway station had already been rebuilt twice on the exact same site in less than seventy years.Work had begun in 1946 with the goal of turning Park Station into one of the most modern terminals in the world. When finished, the complex would rival New York’s Grand Central in scale. By 1959 it was handling 450 passenger trains, 178 goods trains and roughly 180,000 travellers per day. The final construction cost was expected to ...

Built: 1961-1963 (planned in 1959-1960) Architect: Kennedy, Furner, Irvine-Smith & Joubert Location: Leyds St, Johannesburg Status: Extant Rotunda and Admin Building, c.1976. (Source: Frans Erasmus II on FB) The building was SAA’s Johannesburg city terminal for check-in, reservations, waiting, and transfers to Jan Smuts Airport (now OR Tambo). It was an integrated transport hub - passengers could move seamlessly between rail concourses, the Rotunda, buses, taxis, and parking. The circular layout made one-way passenger flow very efficient. It accommodated all the passenger facilities required in a city terminal - enquiry office, reservations, tourist office, luggage areas, waiting rooms, tea room, shops, bookstall - built next to the taller office block on the new deck slab between Rissik and Harrison Streets / Leyds Street, west of the Rissik Bridge. It formed a striking architectural trio with the main station concourses and the adjacent tall SAA Administration Headquarters b...

Aka: Old Park Station Built: 1896-1897 Architect:  Jacob Klinkhamer Contractor: A. van der Ruit Photo c.1906. (Source: Praagh) Unidentified photographer, early 1900s. Timeline Notes Rand Tram (see here) The Rand Tram, also known as the Rand railway line, was the first railway in the Transvaal Republic (now part of South Africa) and played a pivotal role in Johannesburg's explosive growth during the Witwatersrand gold rush. Following the discovery of gold in 1886, the mining boom created an urgent need for reliable coal supplies to power the mines, as ox-wagon transport proved far too slow and expensive. In 1888, the ZAR Volksraad granted a concession to the Netherlands-South African Railway Company (NZASM), a Dutch-backed firm, to build a light steam-powered line primarily to haul coal from the Boksburg collieries westward to Johannesburg. Despite its "tram" nickname - reflecting its initial modest scale and tram-like character - it was a proper Cape-gauge (1,067 mm) ra...

Date: 1889-1890 The Rand Tram, also known as the Rand railway line, was the first railway in the Transvaal Republic (now part of South Africa) and played a pivotal role in Johannesburg's explosive growth during the Witwatersrand gold rush. Following the discovery of gold in 1886, the mining boom created an urgent need for reliable coal supplies to power the mines, as ox-wagon transport proved far too slow and expensive. In 1888, the ZAR Volksraad granted a concession to the Netherlands-South African Railway Company (NZASM), a Dutch-backed firm, to build a light steam-powered line primarily to haul coal from the Boksburg collieries westward to Johannesburg. Despite its "tram" nickname - reflecting its initial modest scale and tram-like character - it was a proper Cape-gauge (1,067 mm) railway using lightweight rails and small locomotives. Construction began in January 1889, and the initial 27 km section from Boksburg to Braamfontein (Johannesburg) opened on 17 March 1890,...