Auckland Park is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It lies on a gentle slope, and is in close proximity to the suburbs of Melville, Brixton,

Westdene Westdene is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. It is an affluent northern suburb of the city, west of Patcham, the A23 (London Road) and the London to Brighton railway line, north of Withdean and northeast of West Blat ...

and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. Auckland Park is one of the few suburbs close to the

Johannesburg city centre The Central Business District, commonly called Johannesburg CBD, is one of the main business centres of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the densest collection of skyscrapers in Africa, however, due to white flight and urban blight, many of the b ...

that has remained largely unaffected by the recent migration of Johannesburg residents to the city's

northern suburbs Northern Sydney is a large metropolitan area in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the north shore of Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River. The region embraces suburbs in Sydney’s north-east, north and inner north west. Northern Sydney ...

. Auckland Park is home to a mix of nationalities and cultures, and the suburb is well known as the location of the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

headquarters.

History

The suburb was laid out by John Landau in 1896, a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

er who named the area due to the similarities he experienced between the region and the city of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, his native home. It was established in 1888 after the land was purchased from Petrus Lindeque and was part of an old

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

farm called ''Braamfontein''. Landau would open the Auckland Park Hotel. Street names in the area are named after places along the river

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, Ditton and Kingston, among others. Some of the city of Johannesburg's first residents settled in Auckland Park, as the region was still considered to be "in the country" relative to the city centre. Victorian gentry who had made South Africa their home would have had weekend homes in the area. The original site offered a boating lake, located where the Country Club Johannesburg is today, as well as a horse racing track, where the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the ...

(formerly RAU) is. The Country Club Johannesburg, was built by the Auckland Park Real Estate Company on the grounds of the old hotel, opening on 22 December 1906 by Mayor W. Kidger Tucker with the lake fed by the

Braamfontein Spruit The Braamfontein Spruit (from the Afrikaans for "spring of brambles") is the longest stream in Johannesburg, South Africa. It originates in Barnato Park High School, Braamfontein. It is covered and canalised near its source, but once the river run ...

Education

Auckland Park is home to a number of academic institutions including the

and private schools such as the Auckland Park Academy of Excellence, The Johannesburg Bible College (Auckland Park Campus), Auckland Park Nursery School and Auckland Park Preparatory School. The '' Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg'' is in Auckland Park.

References

Johannesburg Region B {{Gauteng-geo-stub