1906
Published by the postcard manufacturer G.Budricks.
Hand coloured photogravure. This image was taken using a mechanical panoramic camera. A balloon was used to achieve the aerial views.
Photogravures were considered the best method of producing photographic images at the time.
It was also the most expensive method.

“Anna Smith records that it was as early as 1887 that the Diggers Committee, (the earliest form of local government) asked the Government for a "public park or garden to be planted with trees" and the park, titled Joubert Plein, described as some swampy ground of 6.5 hectares, was marked on a stand map of Johannesburg dating from 1889. The park was demarcated for the recreation and entertainment of the public of the town. On the Tomkins plan of 1890 the space appeared as Joubert Park. In the early years sports groups vied with botanical enthusiasts to claim a use for this land (Van Rensburg, 1986) and it was in 1892 that the decision was taken by the Sanitary Board to create a proper park.

Five guineas was offered as a prize for the best layout and the winning design was submitted by G S Andrews (later Town Engineer) who laid out the park according to his own design. The ground was first ploughed in October 1892 and the Park was fenced. Gifts of seeds and plants were sent by well wishers from everywhere. In 1893 a plague of locusts destroyed the newly established plants but it was a short lived disaster (Van Rensburg, p 177). In 1895 Johannesburg's population was an estimated 102 000 people (Beavon) and the park was thought to be an essential feature of the emerging and growing colonial town. By 1895 an ornamental fountain had been installed in Joubert Park and by 1898 a conservatory had been purchased from the Wanderers Club for the growing of palms. By 1899 the Standard and Diggers' News reported on the completion of the new greenhouse and called it "A Lung in the City”. However it was not until 1906 in the post Boer War period that there was a crown grant of land to the City and this was firmly entrenched at Joubert Park.” The Heritage Portal

68.5cm x 36cm framed.

R2,500