Barberton’s gold rush dream that turned tourist attraction
Barberton gained a reputation as a place of extravagance, with the Golden Quarry at the centre of it all.
In the rocky folds of the Makhonjwa Mountains just outside Barberton sits a site that once set the gold world alight. Known as the Golden Quarry, this remarkable patch of earth produced some of the richest gold ore ever discovered in South Africa. It remains a cornerstone of Barberton’s early mining legacy.
The strike that stunned the Lowveld
It was 1885 when prospector Edwin Bray made the find that would put the Golden Quarry on the map. The quartz reef he uncovered contained so much gold that Bray famously remarked it looked as if the miners were extracting rock from gold, rather than gold from rock. That impression was not far off. In one case, 50 tons of ore from the quarry produced over 300 ounces of gold. The news reached as far as Johannesburg.
Bray’s discovery followed closely after the 1884 strike in the De Kaap Valley by the Barber brothers, Fred, Harry and Graham. Their find had led directly to the founding of Barberton, but Bray’s reef brought a different kind of excitement altogether.
When the mountain moved the market
The Golden Quarry’s success triggered a flood of investment. Share prices in the Sheba Reef Gold Mining Company, which owned the quarry, surged from £1 to more than £100. Wealth flowed into the town. Hotels, music halls, stock exchanges and billiard saloons appeared seemingly overnight. Barberton gained a reputation as a place of extravagance and opportunity, with the Golden Quarry at the centre of it all.
Eureka City, just over seven kilometres from Barberton and perched high on the mountainside, grew alongside the gold rush. It boasted hotels, shops, a bakery, a chemist and even a racecourse. Only stone ruins remain today, echoing the voices of a once-booming mountaintop town.
Sheba Mine and the Greenstone legacy
The Golden Quarry was later incorporated into Sheba Mine, now recognised as one of the oldest and richest working gold mines in the world. The broader Barberton Greenstone Belt surrounding it contains rock formations over 3.6 billion years old. This ancient terrain continues to attract geologists, historians and mineral enthusiasts from across the globe.
The quarry itself still stands as a reminder of the grit and endurance of the early miners who extracted gold from the mountain using nothing more than hand tools, sweat and willpower.
A living monument worth visiting
Although the gold fever has long cooled, the Golden Quarry remains one of Barberton’s most popular historical sites. Visitors can stand at the edge of the original pit and try to imagine what it must have taken to carve it by hand. It is one thing to hear the story, but quite another to stand in the place where it all happened.
Local guide operator Dusty Tracks Off Road Adventures, based in Barberton, offers guided 4x4 tours to the Golden Quarry, Eureka City and other landmarks in the De Kaap Valley. Travellers can drive their own vehicles or join the convoy. The tours include historical background, storytelling and even a chance to try gold panning the traditional way.
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