Benoni, Gauteng

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Benoni is a town in East Rand of the South African province of Gauteng. The area forms part of Greater Johannesburg, and since 2000 has been part of the Ekhuruleni Metropolitan Municipality.

History

Benoni's inauspicious beginnings were in 1881 when then surveyor-general Johan Rissik found it difficult to assign title deeds to all unclaimed state property. He named the area Benoni (son of my sorrows), after that given by Rachel to her son in the Book of Genesis. In September 1887, gold was discovered and the Chimes Mine was established by Cornishmen. The village became know as "Little Cornwall".

Sir George Farrar, the chairman of a mining company, undertook the beautification of the rapidly growing mining town in 1904. Minewater was channelled into a band of marshland, and reservoirs stocked with fish were created. Thousands of trees were planted in the new suburbia and it achieved municipal status in 1907.

In 1922 the miners went on strike and were bombed by the newly formed South African Air Force.