Diamond Mine – Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. Although largely a government-based city, it is also a place of culture, with theatres, museums and monuments. We traveled outside of Pretoria to visit the Cullinan Diamond Mine where the Cullinan diamond was found on January 27, 1905 by the manager of the mines, Mr. Frederick Wells, an old employee of the Kimberley mines. While making his rounds of inspection, Mr. Wells’ eye caught a gleam in some debris and, investigating, he perceived that it was undoubtedly a large diamond; placing his find in the pocket of his sack coat he took it to the company’s office and its importance was quickly realized. The stone was weighed and found to register exactly 3253 ¾ carats. Immediately the news was transmitted by telegraph and cable to all parts of the world that the world’s greatest diamond had been discovered. The stone was christened ‘The Cullinan Diamond’ after Mr. T. N. Cullinan, the chairman of the Premier (Transvaal) Diamond Company. At the insistence of Premier Botha, the Transvaal Assembly presented the great diamond to King Edward VII in recognition of his granting a constitution to the Transvaal Colony. The diamond measured four by two and one-half by one to two inches. The stone had four cleavage planes, which led experts to surmise that other pieces of the same stone are still in the mines. To someone who was not familiar with diamonds, the great diamond nearly resembled a piece of ice.

Bought a few items in the hotel. Left hotel at 9:00 a.m. and walked to the Union buildings, the seat of Government where we had a group photo taken on the steps. Very hot day again! Off to the Cullinan diamond mine where the largest diamond was found in 1905. It was sent to England where the diamonds are now in the crown jewels. Had a very nice lunch at the Whispering Oak Garden Café, and left there at 2:00 p.m. I felt a bit faint during the tour because of the heat. We were at the mine on a very historic day as the mine was changing ownership that day and would no longer be run by De Beers. We were invited to the store to buy some diamonds but the prices were out of this world. We were off again to Pretoria to continue our tour. Our first stop was at the Voortrekker Memorial which tells the story of the Boer’s struggle to establish an independent state. From there we drove to the Kruger House which is the house that Paul Kruger lived in during his presidency of the Transvaal. Beautiful pieces of antique furniture were in that house. From there we drove around Church Square then made our way through heavy traffic to our dinner engagement at the Carnivore Restaurant – quite an experience with large spears being brought to the tables on which was every meat imaginable from chicken, to kudu, to wildebeest, to crocodile. Wow! We then had our secret pal gift exchange and left around 9:30 pm., back to the hotel – it was a shame in a way not to enjoy the beautiful hotel all day!!!