A Mystery Solved? – The Cancellation of Johannesburg’s 1896 International Industrial Exhibition
Rob and Lyn Lester have an excellent collection of South African exhibition material, including labels, programs and associated postal history, postcards and ephemera. One of their more curious items is a cover from the office of ZAR President Paul Kruger that apparently endorses the ‘International Industrial Exhibition’ to be held in Johannesburg during May and June 1896. Try as he did, Rob was unable to find out much more about this mysterious exhibition. The conclusion was that it had never taken place. Why?
At the recent Kenilworth meeting of SACS Rob was able to offer an explanation.
After enquiring from many well-known philatelists and dealers the conclusion drawn was that the Exhibition did not take place probably due to unrest in the Transvaal following the Jameson Raid which took place over New Year 1885-1896. This could not be proved, however, and the question remained why should an Exhibition to be held in May and June 1896 be affected by unrest five months earlier. Rob then displayed this item at the SACS Letchworth meeting in April, where he again asked for information about this exhibition.
After the display Ian Shapiro suggested Rob should look at a couple of postcards that Simon Peetoom was offering for sale. Both cards were titled, ‘Late Crisis in Johannesburg’ and Rob duly bought them. After some discussion it was seen that one of the used cards was written on 15 February 1896 and, as there were two cards of very similar design, it was suggested that they may well be others in the series. Bob Hill then advised he had a post card book in which he thought these cards featured. Later that night following an email and telephone call Rob and Lyn were directed to Henke De Lange’s website in South Africa where a full set of 5 unused post cards were for sale. They are now part of this display. Bob Hill’s book also confirmed that this series of five cards were the first picture post cards of South Africa, with the earliest recorded date of 8 February 1886.
At the SACS Kenilworth meeting Rob displayed the full set of recently acquired ‘The Late Crisis in Johannesburg’ postcards. Having also undertaken further research into events in early 1886 in Johannesburg, he had discovered that on the afternoon of 19th February 1896 a freight train carrying about 60 tonnes of dynamite had exploded in a siding in Braamfontein, a suburb of Johannesburg. The explosion was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. It was heard up to 200 km away and some 3,000 people were made homeless. Many of them were temporarily housed in tents in Johannesburg’s showground then known as Joubert Park, later renamed Milner Park. This was the intended site for hosting the forthcoming ‘International Industrial Exhibition’.
Rob has concluded that the ‘Braamfontein Explosion’, the temporary rehousing of people at Joubert Park, the effects of the Jameson Raid, and the general unrest in Johannesburg were the primary reasons why the organising committee cancelled the Exhibition.
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