Barberton

Municipality

District Municipality: Ehlanzeni District Municipality

Barberton Tourism Bureau

Market Square
Barberton

Phone number: 013-712-2121
Fax number: 013-712-5120
Email: Email inquiry
Web: See the website

Barberton is named after the Barber prospectors Graham and his two cousins Fred and Harry.

Attractions

Also see the neighbouring towns

Museums

The Barberton Museum exhibits the history of Barberton, Swazi history, as well as the history of Geology and Mining.

There are also the Fernlea Museum, the Block House and the Belhaven and Stopforth House Museums.

Walks

There is a Heritage Walk around the town.

Hiking trails lead through the surrounding hills.

There is a 1Km long tunnel that could be walked. This tunnel was used in earlier times for transporting ore from a mine.

Mountain biking and 4x4 routes are found in the area.

Bird watching: Purple Crested and Knysna Turaco, and Narina Trogon

Barberton was home to Percy Fitzpatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld, an adventure story focusing on a dog called Jock.

On the way to Bulembu in Swaziland, the R40 runs through the Saddleback Pass. On the way to Badplaas, the R38 runs through Nelshoogte and Bothasnek Passes at Jambila.

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History

The earliest record of human occupation is in the form of San rock paintings. They got the Red ochre used for their paintings at Dumaneni, and probably used this site as long ago as 30'000 to 45'000 years ago.

Some have speculated that some stone terraced walls, religious icons and grave sites found in the area have similarities with Hindu designs. Also, the name of the broader area, Komati, is similar to Indian caste name of the Setty or Komati, which is the trading (vysya) caste (Arya Vysya) of the of Indian Hindu caste system. If this is true, it means that Indian travellers must have visited the area many centuries ago.

Note that northern Indians traded as widely as with Iran and China as long ago as 200BCE. Around 1000CE even the Chinese traded along the East African coast. It is thus quite possible that there were indeed Indian settlers in this area.

The earliest European settlers arrived in the 1830s. In 1882 James Murray found alluvial gold in Barberton where the Noordkaap river and Jamestown Creek meet. Later, in 1884, the Barber family (Graham and his two cousins Fred and Harry Barber) discovered gold samples in the stream running at the foot of the Makonjwa Mountains. A gold rush resulted. David Wilson, the Gold Commissioner, named the gold reef by breaking a bottle of gin, as there was no champagne available. The location was named Barberton.

In 1912 H W Peacock discovered a 179,8 ounce (5,10 kg) gold nugget at Coetzeestroom. The National Bank bought the nugget for £800, and eventually sold at a loss to the Bank of England.

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Climate

Barberton lies on the border between two ecoregions: the Southern Africa bushveld (WWF AT0717) in the vallyes and the Drakensberg montane grasslands, woodlands and forests ecoregion (WWF AT1004) in the mountains.

The Climate is subtropical with summer rains (average 755mm) and dry winters. There are thunderstorms in summer.

Temperature:
Winter average: 18°C - June to August
Summer average: 30°C - October to February

Ecosystem

Barberton lies at the foot of the Ingudu Mountains (also known as the Magudu Mountains) which are part of the Drakensberg Mountain Range. The mountain peaks range from 900 to 1900m. The Makhonjwa Mountains are about 10km south east of Barberton.

There are three rivers in the Barberton valley: Northkaap River, Queens River, Crocodile River.

The Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesoni) is a well-known flower of the region.

The area between Nelspruit and Barberton, and eastward, is a relic of the oldest continent, Pangea, on the planet. The Barberton Greenstone belt is about 3'500 million years old. The granite is between 3'000 and 2'700 million years old.

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