#BenoniBygones: When farmers made Benoni home
The fourth farm, Modderfontein (muddy spring), was about five or six miles south-east of modern Benoni.
The Sand River Convention in 1852 recognised the independence of the Boers who had emigrated from the Cape Province, and at the end of their thousand-mile trek, had settled on land north of the Vaal River.
About 10 years later, four of these farmers – with their families in Voortrekker wagons – arrived in the Benoni area.
They found open grassland, watered by perennial springs, which inspired the names of their farms.
The Government of the Transvaal granted the first farm, Rietfontein (reedy spring), to DJ Strydom on September 11, 1862.
It comprised 3 752 morgen, of which half was within Benoni’s municipal boundaries.
The Apex gold mine opened there in 1893, and coal mining commenced in 1897.
About half of Rietfontein is now incorporated into the Benoni municipality, mainly in Dunswart, Benoni South extensions, Actonville, Apex, and Wattville. The remainder forms part of Brakpan.
Johan Hendrik Botha came across a perennial spring a few miles north and named it Kleinfontein (little spring). He bought this farm, comprising 3 019 morgen, from the government in February 1866.
In 1878, the large farmhouse built near the spring was the scene of an important conference between Lieutenant Colonel Owen Lanyon, the acting administrator of the Transvaal, which Britain had annexed the year before, and the Boer leaders.
On the site of the original homestead, Sir George Farrar rebuilt the old farmhouse, which became his hunting lodge. He lived there for a while until he moved into his Sir Herbert Baker-designed Bedford Manor in modern Bedfordview.
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The mine owners and 1913 strikers allegedly signed a treaty under the oak tree that still stands alongside the old farmhouse.
Today, this farmhouse still stands on the outskirts of Farrarmere, on Bill Davey Drive.
Many believe the remains of the third farmhouse, Vlakfontein (shallow spring), can still be seen near the Rynfield Dam.
This 3 692 hectare farm was established in 1866 and was owned by MS Nel.
Sir George Albu established the Van Ryn Gold Mines Estate in 1894 on the farm, and the estate manager lived in the homestead.
He planted acres of trees. Benoni residents used the area for picnics for many years, and this set the scene for the Van Ryn Golf Course, now the Benoni Country Club.
The lower Rynfield Dam was built for mining in the late 1880s, and the newer, larger one upstream was built in 1896. They were originally called the Van Ryn Dams.
The modern suburbs of Rynfield, Morehill, Cloverdene, Boat Lake Village, Rynfield Agricultural Holdings, Fairleads AH, Crystal Park, and Benoni East AH all fall within the original farm.
The fourth farm, Modderfontein (muddy spring), was about five or six miles south-east of modern Benoni, to the east of Kleinfontein and Rietfontein.
Willem Prinsloo, its second owner, bought it from HP van der Walt in 1873.
The farm had deposits of gold and, in time, after some canny negotiations, Prinsloo sold it to the Rand Mine Group.
He bought another farm and again sold it to a mining house before settling on the farm Cullinan, east of Pretoria – and we all know what awaited him there!
The ‘leftover ground’ or ‘uitvalgrond’ in Afrikaans was the Farm Benoni.
This was the irregularly shaped land that Johan Rissik found so difficult to survey, and as the story goes, in Benoni Son of my Sorrow, he named this farm Benoni, relating it to the Biblical story in Genesis 35:18 where Rachel had a difficult time giving birth and as she breathed her last, she named her son Benoni (Jacob changed this name to Benjamin).
(Source: Benoni Son of My Sorrow, extracts from Benoni – A Golden Anniversary for a Golden City/Map: Keith Gardiner/Typed and grammar change: Glynis Cox Millett-Clay February 18, 2018/updated August 18, 2025).
ALSO READ: Benoni Bygones: The early beginnings of Kleinfontein Mine
