Reminiscing about the good old days

The guest speaker at the East Rand Hiking Club monthly meeting on September was Benoni resident Winnie Job, who is a member of the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation.

Job reminisced about growing up in Benoni and described the history of the town.

She was born and bred in Benoni, and currently still lives here.

“The name Benoni is a biblical name, from the book of Genesis, that means ‘son of my sorrows’,” said Job.

The building of Benoni was started in 1881, on government land near the Chimes Tavern, in New Modder.

“Only after a few years did developments start moving towards Benoni central, and Northmead was built during the 1930s, before World War Two,” said Job.

She added that all the streets in Benoni run from north to south, and all the avenues run from east to west, and all are named after places and people from Bedford, in England.

The very first school to be built in Benoni was the red brick building on Liverpool Road, which was known as the Witwatersrand Technical Institute, Benoni branch.

The first primary school was Benoni West Primary School, due to the large number of children who were in Benoni Junior Primary.

Tom Newby was the next primary school to be established and accommodated children from Northmead.

Benoni High School was the first high school and was initially situated where Willowmoore High School is now.

Job encouraged Benoni residents to try to save heritage buildings that are about to be demolished.

“We can’t save every building, but we must at least try saving a building from each era,” she concluded.