16 January 1889, Kimberley awarded the cricket Currie Cup by England.
16 January 1891, Fabricius has five men working the new Wesselton mine.
16 January 1900, Soup kitchen opened at the Hull St Convict Station.
DID YOU KNOW
The actual date of discovery of the Wesselton Mine has not been recorded, although the month of September 1890 has been mooted by both Gardner Williams and Irvine Grimmer. Fabricius and his employer Henry A Ward managed to keep their discovery reasonably quiet, particularly the former as he only came to an agreement with Ward on 29 November 1890 – some two months after the discovery – whereby he was allowed to prospect the farm by sinking shafts. Ward was quite satisfied by December 1890 that Fabricius had actually found a mine and by 16 January 1891 Fabricius had employed at least five men to work the mine for him. These men were Owen Hall, Nott, Cellier, Ranier and McCullum. There may have been another two also working, Jones and Benfield.
Whatever the story, the news was only broken to the public of Kimberley in the Diamond Fields Advertiser in early January 1891 with a paragraph titled “The New Mine”, followed by a slightly longer story titled “The New diamond Mine on Wessels Farm” in mid-January. The newspaper inspected the area of the new mine and described it as being situated a few hundred yards from to the south of Mr Mylchreest’s former floors and compound, and only a short distance from the Orange Free State border. In a note to the De Beers Company on 6 January 1891 a certain F. Starkey describes the mine as being “…on a very slight kopje.”
From Kimberley Calls and Recalls on Facebook By Steve Lunderstedt
