Cullinan is a small town in the

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is located east of the city of

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

along the diamond route and is heavily reliant on tourism and the mine that dominates the skyline. The town is named after diamond magnate Sir Thomas Cullinan.

History

In 1898 Sir Thomas Cullinan was handed a three carat diamond found along a farm fence. He studied the area and came to the conclusion that the diamond was washed down from a nearby hill. Sir Cullinan made an attempt to buy the land from the owner, Joachim Prinsloo, but did not succeed. After Prinsloo's death, he was able to purchase the land for £52,000 from Prinsloo's daughter.Sale of the farm
/ref> The Cullinan kimberlite was discovered in 1902 and in 1903

open pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ro ...

commenced. The mine was named the Premier mine. On 25 June 1905, the famed Cullinan Diamond, the largest in the world at , was discovered by Frederick George Stanley Wells, surface manager of the Premier Diamond Mining Company. It was bought by the Transvaal government and presented to

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

. The town of Cullinan owes its existence to the diamond mining in this area, much like

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

in the

Northern Cape Province The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kga ...

Geography

Cullinan is situated in the

Highveld The Highveld (Afrikaans: ''Hoëveld,'' , ) is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above roughly , but below , thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions to the south-east of the Highveld. It is home to some of t ...

region of South Africa. The town has an elevation of 1476 m (4842.52 ft)Elevation
/ref> and is located at −25.6709 atitude in decimal degrees 28.5236 ongitude in decimal degrees The closest city is

being away, while

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

is away.

Government

Cullinan formed part of the Nokeng tsa Taemane Local Municipality until 18 May 2011. Due to mismanagement of funds, this municipality was disbanded and incorporated into the

Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ), also known as the City of Tshwane (), is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng in South Africa. The metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pre ...

.Municipality disbanded
/ref>

Tourism

Tours

Various operators offer tours around Cullinan. Tourists can choose between tours around town, within the mining area and even underground mining tours. Various means of transportation is used to provide these tours, the most popular being on an open vehicle or on foot.

Museums

There are a few museums in the area in and around Cullinan. A few of the most popular ones are: *The History room Cullinan.History room cullinan
*The McHardy House museum.McHardy house museum
*The Zonderwater Italian POW museumZonderwater POW museum
*The Sammy Marks MuseumSammy Marks

Adventure

The mountainous terrain surrounding Cullinan offers multiple activities for more adventure-oriented people, like: * Gorge gliding * Horse riding *

Abseil Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

ing *

Bongo drum Bongos ( Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' (), which are joined by a wo ...

sessions *

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

There is also an annual

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

race called the Cullinan Diamond Rush.

Architecture

St. Georges Anglican church

The church was designed by British architect

Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He was ...

, who was a dominant figure in South African architecture between 1892 and 1912. The church was built in 1904 as the parish church for the miners. The church is a simple square structure with a corrugated iron roof. The first recorded meeting was held on April 22, 1906.

Cullinan hospital

The hospital was built in 1907, and was officially opened by Annie Cullinan,Annie Cullinan Genealogy
/ref> wife of Sir Thomas Cullinan. It served only the European miners back then, but now serves the need of all the people living in Cullinan.Hospital
The hospital has since closed down.

Nedbank

The

Nedbank Nedbank Group is a financial services group in South Africa offering wholesale and retail banking services as well as insurance, asset management, and wealth management. Nedbank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nedbank Group. Headquarter ...

building was built around 1908. The building is still in use today by the bank.Nedbank Cullinan
/ref>

Masonic lodge

The Premier Diamond

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

was consecrated in the Cullinan School Hall and met there until 1909 when the new lodge building was completed at a cost of £1200. A feature of the Lodge's history has been the number of times it has been forced into recess, whether because of war, as in 1914 to 1916, disturbances leading to martial law, 1921 to 1922, and the closing down of the diamond mine (the main source of members) during the depression, 1932 to 1941. However the Second World War saw military forces stationed on the mine and an adjoining farm and this helped the lodge to get restarted. Then in 1945 the mine was reopened, restoring 'normality' to Cullinan, and since then the lodge's progress has been steady and sound. The lodge is still in use and looks the same as it did 100 years ago, having been preserved by active members.

Climate

References

External links

*
Cullinan MeanderCullinan Gauteng
{{authority control Populated places in the City of Tshwane Mining communities in South Africa Populated places established in 1903 1903 establishments in Transvaal Colony