Heritage

Heritage
The heritage of the Diamond Route includes many valued things from our South African past; the buildings, wagon tracks, legends and places where the well-know and the forgotten men and women from our past lived, worked and unknowingly enriched the lives of those of us now living in their future.   While the natural history of the sites is well documented and becoming ever more accessible to a wider interested public the social and economic history of the sites which make up some of the heritage of our diamond Company is still to be fully understood and liberated to those who celebrate the impact that the discovery of diamonds has had on the sub continent. While buildings and relics from past centuries scatter the nine sites of the Diamond Route there are today 4600 petroglyphs left at Rooipoort – ancient messages and expressions of art by First Peoples. Stagecoach and wagon wheels sliced trails which are still visible on their route out of Kimberley as they wound their way into the hinterland on the excitement of exploration and commerce triggered by the spark that was diamonds. The wagon tracks still defy the force of encroaching grassland and are clearly visible at Dronfield.
The City of Kimberley treasures its heritage and complementing fine galleries and museums The Big Hole Experience captures some of the heritage of the boom town that emerged from the sparsely populated veld following the diamond discoveries in 1866 and in Kimberley in 1869. The heritage aspects of the Diamond Route can be well explored at the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve, and in the Coast of Diamonds along the Namaqualand coast. Contributions associated with the Diamond Route sites are invited from those interested as we attempt to record and understand the reality, myths and experiences of the past, both of past generations and more recent. Contact tom.tweedy@debeersgroup.com should you wish to submit material associated directly with the Diamond Route.