Unique circumstances

Unique circumstances
Circumstances in the gold-rush town were unique in two ways. Firstly, there was no large river residents could easily empty their waste into, which meant they could not do their washing at home. So washing was allowed in streams on the outskirts of town. Secondly, there were very few women in the town for the first 15 years or so, and gold prospectors, single or married without their families, were "without recourse to that female labour which normally undertook the washing and ironing of their clothes". The AmaWasha took up the challenge and set up shop at Braamfontein Spruit to the north of the town; by 1895 their operations had extended to three other sites - Elandsfontein in the east, and Booysens and Concordia in the south. A year later, in 1896, there were more than 1 200 washermen at about 10 sites - Sans Souci, Vrededorp, City and Suburban, Rietvlei, Elandsfontein, George Goch, Booysens, Concordia, Klipspruit, Nancefield Station - washing the town's laundry over boulders and in specially constructed concrete troughs. At the Sans Souci site a group of about 80 men established themselves more permanently. They planted crops along the banks of the spruit, kept pigs and cattle, had 14 horses and four carts. By 1896 a census showed that the group had grown to 546 Zulu washermen, 14 Dhobis, four Indian women and 64 black women. Although the community was very much an urban set-up, it retained social structures belonging to a traditional rural setting. An induna was in charge of the settlement, recruiting new men, organising a watch to guard the drying washing and, most importantly, he was the go-between for the men and the land owner, the Braamfontein Company, and the municipality, both of which were paid fees. Van Onselen says that "vestiges of the Zulu regimental system were woven into the fabric of the washermen's guild". And between 1890 and 1895, the leader of the guild, "the formidable Kwaaiman", would meet with the other indunas in the market square once a month for a chinwag.

Circumstances in the gold-rush town were unique in two ways. Firstly, there was no large river residents could easily empty their waste into, which meant they could not do their washing at home. So washing was allowed in streams on the outskirts of town.

Secondly, there were very few women in the town for the first 15 years or so, and gold prospectors, single or married without their families, were "without recourse to that female labour which normally undertook the washing and ironing of their clothes".

The AmaWasha took up the challenge and set up shop at Braamfontein Spruit to the north of the town; by 1895 their operations had extended to three other sites - Elandsfontein in the east, and Booysens and Concordia in the south. A year later, in 1896, there were more than 1 200 washermen at about 10 sites - Sans Souci, Vrededorp, City and Suburban, Rietvlei, Elandsfontein, George Goch, Booysens, Concordia, Klipspruit, Nancefield Station - washing the town's laundry over boulders and in specially constructed concrete troughs.

At the Sans Souci site a group of about 80 men established themselves more permanently. They planted crops along the banks of the spruit, kept pigs and cattle, had 14 horses and four carts. By 1896 a census showed that the group had grown to 546 Zulu washermen, 14 Dhobis, four Indian women and 64 black women.

Although the community was very much an urban set-up, it retained social structures belonging to a traditional rural setting. An induna was in charge of the settlement, recruiting new men, organising a watch to guard the drying washing and, most importantly, he was the go-between for the men and the land owner, the Braamfontein Company, and the municipality, both of which were paid fees.

Van Onselen says that "vestiges of the Zulu regimental system were woven into the fabric of the washermen's guild". And between 1890 and 1895, the leader of the guild, "the formidable Kwaaiman", would meet with the other indunas in the market square once a month for a chinwag.