After a two-year break due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Welkom Heritage Exhibition is back.
“On exhibition will be hundreds of photos that show the development of Welkom from a bare veld to the city it is today,” says James Mlambo, Welkom Heritage Exhibition curator.
In April this year Welkom turned 75 years old, and this exhibition will do justice to the rich heritage Welkom boasts.
Mlambo says that in response to interest shown at the last exhibition, there are going to be more mining photos that show shaft headgears, gold plants, trains and much more.
In addition, more Thabong photos will be on display.
“For the first time there are going to be copies of the oldest and first newspapers to be published in Welkom. People will be able to pick up a copy, sit down and read it,” he says.
Attendees will also be able to watch some of Welkom’s oldest films that show how residents lived from as early as the 1940’s.
A diverse collection of old news video clips on Welkom will also be available for people to watch, like about the Merriespruit disaster and others.
Permission to have Welkom established as a township on the farms Alma, Bedelia, Enkeldoorn, Jacobsrust, Meribah, Theronsrust, Toronto and Welkom was given by the Provincial Council of the Orange Free State to the Honourable Administrator on 14 May, 1946. Welkom was officially born on 15 April 1947.
The settlement was laid out on a farm named “Welkom” (which is the Afrikaans and Dutch word for “welcome”) after gold was discovered in the region.
The town became a municipality in 1961, and was declared a city on 14 February 1968. Welkom also has the honour of being the youngest city in South Africa.
The oldest surviving newspaper in the Goldfields is Vista, which celebrated 51 years of publishing this year.
The Welkom Heritage Exhibition will commence at the Goldfields Casino on 24 September, from 08:00 to 20:00.
Enquiries may be directed to Mlambo on 062-873-5821.
