One hundred and twenty one years ago, a small gold nugget was found on a farm, in the area which today is known as Roodepoort, by a man named George Harrison, however, he was not the first to sight gold. There were two brothers, Fred and Harry Struben, who discovered a gold seam in 1874 which only lasted for about a year.
But who discovered Joburg's main gold reef?
Frederick Struben |
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We know where the discovery happened, and more or less when it happened. What we don't know is who actually made the discovery. The only point of agreement is that the discovery hinged on three men, George, George and George. George Harrison, George Walker and George Honeyball were all drifters, in search of the yellow metal.
Historians discovered an affidavit by Harrison, written on October 12th 1886, in which he claims full credit for the gold discovery. Another affidavit from Harrison supports this: dated July 24th, it is a statement to the Mines Department which concludes: "I have long experience as an Australian gold digger and I think it is a payable goldfield". If he only knew what was to come. A century later South Africa is the largest single gold producer in the galaxy. And today we call Joburg - Egoli "place of gold".
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