In 2000, the Centurion local government became part of the newly created City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, which also includes Pretoria, and the town ceased to have its own Town Council. ![]() A black township, called Olievenhoutbosch, was established in Centurion at around the same time. Following the end of apartheid, the Indian township of Laudium and surrounding suburbs including Erasmia and Claudius, which were formerly a part of Pretoria, were made part of Centurion. The name Centurion was chosen by residents in 1995 (without the option to retain the existing name), soon after the end of apartheid, to match the name of the Centurion Park (now called SuperSport Park) cricket stadium which is in the area. Others included Clubview, Eldoraigne, Kloofsig, Wierdapark, Zwartkop and their extensions. The surrounding areas, as they grew, came under the same name and Lyttelton became known as one of the suburbs of Verwoerdburg. Hendrik Verwoerd, the former prime minister of South Africa who was assassinated the previous year. Lyttelton was renamed Verwoerdburg in 1967, after Dr. Name changes and post-apartheid reorganisation It was formed by combining the areas of Doornkloof, Irene and Lyttelton. These two townships initially resorted under the Peri Urban Board in Pretoria.Ĭenturion was granted City Council status in 1962 as Lyttelton. Lyttelton Manor Extension 1 was established in 1942. The original Smuts House is a museum today.Ĭenturion developed from the initial Lyttelton Township that was marked out on the farm Droogegrond in 1904. Jan Smuts later owned this farm, and died there in 1950. The town of Irene was established in 1902 when 337 plots were laid out on the farm Doornkloof. The Irene Camp Cemetery is well preserved and contains 576 of the original slate tombstones that were carved by hand in the camp. Between February 1901 and the end of the war in 1902, 1,249 lost their lives here, about 1,000 of them children. At its peak the camp had 5,500 inhabitants, mostly women and children. Second Anglo-Boer War Photograph of the Irene concentration campĭuring the Second Boer War the Irene Concentration Camp was established in 1901 on the farm Doornkloof, as part of the British scorched earth policy, where Boer women and children were housed under extremely poor conditions. ![]() After the cornered British garrison tried to escape to Natal to join General George Pomeroy Colley, the Boers entrenched themselves behind a stone wall surrounding the animal stockade, and wounded the colonel in the backside, who was standing upright in his stirrups. Erasmus Jr defeated Colonel Gildea, or "The Blasted Colonel" as they called him, the British Officer Commanding of the Pretoria Garrison. A Boer commando under the leadership of D.J. In 1889 Alois Hugo Nelmapius bought the northern and north-eastern portions of the farm Doornkloof and named it after his daughter Irene (who died in 1961).Īs part of the First Boer War, the battle for Rooihuiskraal (Afrikaans for "Red House Kraal") took place in 1881 here. In 1849 Rev Andrew Murray visited the farm Doornkloof and christened 129 babies, heard the profession of faith of 29 new members of the Reformed Church and the next day, 29 December 1849, celebrated communion. Several of the suburbs like Erasmia, Elardus Park, Zwartkop and Doornkloof were named after these 19th-century owners of the land and their properties. Daniel Jacobus Erasmus settled on the farm Zwartkop, Daniel Elardus Erasmus on the farm Doornkloof and Rasmus Elardus Erasmus developed the farm Brakfontein. In 1841 the Erasmus family arrived and settled in the area. They cultivated lands, grazed their cattle, made earthenware containers and melted iron. It dates back to 1200 AD when black African communities settled in this area. However, the earliest evidence of modern human habitation in the Centurion area does not go this far back. The Sterkfontein Caves, a World Heritage Site, is less than 50 km from Centurion, near Mogale City and Krugersdorp. The Waterkloof Air Force Base, as well as the Swartkop Air Force Base (which includes the South African Air Force Museum), are in Centurion.įossils discovered at the Sterkfontein Caves show that hominids lived in the vicinity of Centurion between 2 and 3 million years ago. ![]() The R21 freeway also passes through the eastern part of Centurion. Its heart is at the intersection of the N1 and N14 freeways. Formerly an independent municipality, with its own town council, it has been part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality since 2000. Centurion (previously known as Verwoerdburg and before that Lyttelton) is an area with 236,580 inhabitants (2011 census) in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, between Pretoria and Midrand.
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