Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Rand Pioneers Memorial Johannesburg, Gauteng Edward Henry WAUGH: Architect

Date: 1932 Client: Johannesburg City Council Type: Memorial Style: Monumental Status: Extant   Click to view large map Coordinates: 26°14'04.32" S 28°03'10.96" E Alt: 1703m

See more photographs The Rand Pioneers Memorial was centrally sited between the parallel entrance and exit roads at Pioneer Park, fronting onto Turf Road and adjacent to the James Hall Transport Museum. The Memorial comprises a gabled, hammer dressed stone 'memorial room' under a double pitched tiled roof with two arched side entrances. The internal walls of the memorial room are also of hammer dressed stone. Various polished and engraved granite plaques are mounted on the inside face of the walls recording the names of the Rand Pioneers. The inner walls of the room are also lined with built in granite benches. A free standing granite memorial is placed centrally on the axis between the two arched openings. An engraved foundation stone is mounted centrally into the external wall of the west elevation, and is framed with polished blocks of gold bearing banket. The foundation stone has the following inscription - in English and Afrikaans: THIS FOUNDATION STONE WAS LAID BY REV JAMES GRAY (PIONEER) ON HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY 5TH JUNE 1932 IN HONOUR OF THE PIONEERS OF THE TRANSVAAL GOLDFIELDS, AND RAND PIONEERS DIE FONDAMENT STEEN WORD GELÊ DEUR DS JAMES GRAY (BAANBREKER) OP SY 80STE VERJAARSDAG 5DE JUNIE 1932 TOT EER VAN DIE BAANBREKERS VAN DIE TRANSVAALSE GOUDVELDE, EN DIE RANDSE BAANBREKERS. An engraved commemorative stone is mounted centrally Into the external wall on the east elevation with the following inscription: THIS MEMORIAL WAS DESIGNED BY EH WAUGH ESQR. AND BUILT: A. TREVENEN (H . JAMES & SON, PROPRIETORS) MONUMENTALISTS OF THIS CITY THE COST BEING RAISED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTIONS OBTAINED BY THE FOLLOWING COMMITTEE: MESDAMES: C. W KRUGER. M. HOOK. K. TYE. N. SEATH. I. M . H VEAR. E. DAVIS. G. BROWN. M. SPRIGG. G. McALLISTER-ROGERS, E. WALTERS AND S. I. TEW THE REV. JAMES GRAY & DR. J. J . LANDAU (CHIEF RABBI) MESSRS: C. W KRUGER. F. H . BAGNALL. DOUGLAS PIGG. D. McKELLAR. S. ELFICK SINCLAIR SCOTT GEORGE HAY AND W. W. DANIEL. ASSISTED BY MANY FRIENDS. CHAIRMAN FRANK McALLISTER-ROGERS VICE CHAIRMAN W . J . WALLETT. HON. TREASURER A. H. G . PIGG JOINT HON. SECRETARIES MRS. DEECKER, MISS WINIFRED SMYTHE AND R. HYLTON GARDINER. The memorial building is flanked on both the north and the south sides by three substantial hammer dressed stone columns. The first two columns on the north side of the memorial support a large semicircular arched wrought iron structure which records the words RAND PIONEERS (INCORPORATED). A decorative cast iron double vehicle gate is hung from the two stone columns and is flanked by a similarly detailed pedestrian gate. The first two columns on the south side support a similar large semicircular arched wrought iron structure which records the words PIONEERS TRANSVAAL GOLDFIELDS. Another decorative cast iron double vehicle gate is hung from the two stone columns and is flanked by a similarly detailed pedestrian gate. The dressed stone columns which support both pairs of vehicle gates are further detailed with the word PIONEER carved into the face of the north column and MEMORIAL carved into the face of the south column. In 2017 construction of a new three lane access road into Pioneer Park commenced immediately to the south of the Memorial, with a new set of gates recessed a substantial distance from Turf road. This has had the effect of diminishing the importance of the memorial as the entrance into the Park, but fortunately the structure was maintained intact. The memorial has recently had a modern palisade fence erected along the street frontage - presumably to better protect the perimeter of Pioneer Park. William Martinson, July 2022