Doornfontein Farm No. 323
Aka: Doren Fontijn
Notes
Owned by B.C. Viljoen
In 1853 the inspection commission received requests for inspection from the occupiers of several tracts of land on the Witwatersrand, who wished to obtain title to them as owners' farms (eigenaarsplaatsen). Reports submitted included one for "Doren Fontijn" owned by Mr Barend Viljoen. It was listed as having one spring and being 6 hours from Pretoria (the nearest town). It was inspected with riding times: North 16 min, West 15 min, South 30 min, East 45 min.
- Barend Christiaan Viljoen (1807 - 1859) married Judith Cornelia Theresia Booysen (c.1807 Graaff-Reinet - c.1861 Cape)
A diagram of the farm in 1853 which only roughly corresponds to the later surveyor's map. (Copy of the Sketch accompanying the inspection report. Reproduced in MH Kunneke' s unpublished research report from JG Marais' original Inspection Book of Heidelberg, 5.¹
Owned by F.J Bezuidenhout Sr.
F.J. Bezuidenhout Sr. was married to Viljoen's only surviving child. After Viljoen's death in 1859 and shortly before her own in 1861, his widow Mrs. J.C.T. Viljoen ceded the farm to F.J. Bezuidenhout Sr., probably as a gift. Bezuidenhout built a house on the farm, used it for farming, and became very attached to it. His house was located where the Ponti Towers are today.
Frederik Jacobus Bezuidenhout Sr. (1825 Beaufort West - 1900 Johannesburg) married Judith Cornelia Etresia Viljoen (1831 Graaff-Reinet - 1904 Johannesburg) in 1849. Bezuidenhout relocated to Standerton before the 2nd Boer war. During the war his farm was razed by fire, and his wife and children were taken to a concentration camp. Post-war he remarried (Wilhelmina Christina Johanna Meyer) and purchased the farm Boschfontein outside Heidelberg.
In 1875 he subdivided the farm and sold the north-western portion (Portion 2) to his son F.J. Jr. who intended to farm on it. The sale included a portion of Turffontein, which was also owned by Sr. The sale was only registered in 1887, after the discovery of gold, possibly to save on the additional land tax on subdivided farms.
When properly surveyed in 1886 the original farm turned out to be 4 821 morgen - over 50% larger than allowed. It was served by one spring. Such “generous” inspections were the norm (to avoid the additional taxation levied on oversized farms.
"The Doornfontein farm, acquired by the Bezuidenhout family possibly only a dozen years after the Great Trek, was a real Boer farm in the extent of land occupied. Its central pasturage and mielielands occupied the long valley that extends for six miles between the Yeoville, Observatory and Linksfield ridges on the north side and the parallel sequence from Langermans Kop and Kensington ridge to the Bedford View ridges on the south side. The later Bezuidenhout homestead, with its grove of walnut trees (that G. A. Leyds had climbed as a boy), was centrally placed in the valley near the gulf of the Observatory ridge. At night in that dark valley in the middle of Africa before the gold discoveries, the only illumination came from the weak flickering paraffin lamps in the Bezuidenhout homestead."⁵
Restored copy of the Original Surveyor's Map of Doornfontein no. 323. Adapted from Map DB 79/27. IR92, portion: 10, Office of the surveyor General. The thick line crossing the farm from East to West divides the proclaimed £lr., unproclaimed portions of the farm. A few of the suburbs later established on the farm are roughly indicated in italics. The date appears to be 1886.¹
F.J. Bezuidenhout Sr. and his wife J.C.E. (nee) Viljoen. (RAU Library)
Discovery of gold
During June and July of 1886, the main reef was finally discovered on the farm Langlaagte and then on Turffontein and Doornfontein.
"F.J. Bezuidenhout Sr. acquired the land to farm it and subsequently sold a small portion of it to his son, who intended to farm in his turn. After the discovery of gold in the area, he chose to make his profit largely through the proclamation of the southern portion of the farm and by means of leases to various speculators, rather than by selling the entire farm. In this way he ensured an immediate profit without actually giving up his title to ownership of the land."¹
After the discovery of the main reef on Langlaagte, Bezuidenhout Sr. entered into a lease agreement with veldkornet Jan Meyer and three associates: W.S. McLaren, H.B. Marshall and S.O. du Toit for the mineral rights on a specified southern portion of the farm. The lease was registered at the Deeds Office on 16 August 1886. Being veldkornet of the area, granted Meyer inside information - he would become the most successful Boer speculator in the history of the Witwatersrand.
- Johannes Petrus Meyer (1842 Prince Albert - 1919 Johannesburg) was a politician, mining entrepreneur, and farmer.
- (Possibly) William Sinclair McLaren (1843 Scotland - 1889 Heidelberg) was a prominent Heidelberg businessman.
- Henry Brown Marshall (1852 Scotland - 1948 Scotland) was a Scottish entrepreneur and pioneer who played a foundational role in developing Johannesburg's CBD.
- It was usual to proclaim entire farms, which were specified by name, rather than specific portions of farms.
On Doornfontein, this mynpacht (No. 126 of 1886) was officially granted to F.J. Bezuidenhout senior on 12 October 1886. It measured 221 morgen, 247 square roods (about 190 hectares) - the entire southern proclaimed goldfield portion. He could now lease or sub-divide that mining right to big companies (like the City & Suburban Syndicate) and collect rent for decades without selling the farm itself. He earned immediate income (e.g. £942 in the first year from sub-leases) while still keeping legal ownership of the land.
Later he sold the mynpacht portions for large sums (£6 000+), but with clever clauses (like a £5 buy-back right when the gold ran out) so the family could potentially get the land back. Bezuidenhout Sr. tried to preserve as much of the farm for his heirs. In 1888 the ZAR notified him that no more parts of his farm will be proclaimed as public diggings.
There were many complex leases and land alienation agreements on the farm.
Suburbs of Johannesburg
In spite of measures by Bezuidenhout Sr. and his wife to prevent their heirs to sell off portions of the farm, the remainder of the farm was only kept intact until 1900, when his heirs made it available for township development.
"Die dorpsaanleg (van Johannesburg) het plaasgevind op uitvalgrond tussen die drie plase Braamfontein, Turffontein en Doornfontein. Die noordelike baken was in Boundaryweg, Houghton, en vandag is daar 'n gedenksteen aanwesig wat as historiese gedenkwaardigheid verklaar is. Die basis van die driehoek was Commissionerstraat en die baken aan die weste is op die hoek van Weststraat en aan die ooste op die hoek van Endstraat. Later is Johannesburg uitgebrei op die omliggende plase." (Pretoriana, 1986)
"Doornfontein was laid out as a township in 1889, largely by the Corner House Group, and it is thus one of Johannesburg’s oldest suburbs. Many of the mining magnates who developed the gold mines and the mining finance houses lived here - the Ecksteins, Sir George Albu, Theodore Reunart, Cecil Rhodes, John Hays Hammond (later Vice-President of the USA) and others. In 1900 most of these people moved to Parktown."⁴
Suburbs later established on the farm include Yeoville, Hillbrow, Doornfontein, New Doornfontein, Berea, Bezuidenhout Valley, Observatory, Denver, Linksfield, Heriotdale, and Bruma.
Timeline
Sources
- F. J. Bezuidenhout's Doornfontein: A case study in white farmland alienation on the 19th century Witwatersrand. 1994. Allen, G.R. Contree 94.
- Pretoriana No 89. 1986. De Jong, C.
- Pretoriana No 89. 1986. Coetzee, N.A
- A Brief History of Windybrow. The Heritage Portal. 2015. Grant, B.L.
- Johannesburg Style. 1993. Chipkin, C.M.
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