Barberton, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa () is situated in the De Kaap Valley and is surrounded by the Mckhonjwa Mountains. It is 45 km south of Nelspruit and 360 to the east of Johannesburg.

History

Prehistoric

The area around Barberton are home to some of the oldest exposed rocks on the planet dating back to 3,500,000,000 BC (Only rocks from Greenland are older!). These 3.5 billion year old volcanic rocks, which scientists call the Barberton Greenstone Belt , have given up direct evidence of conditions of life on the surface of the very early earth.

The first form of life on earth, a bacterial microfossil "Archaeospheroides Barbertonis" was discovered here and has been identified as being 3.2 billion years old.

Gold

In 1881 gold in the Barberton area was discovered by Tom McLachlan who found alluvial gold at Jamestown. However due to the location (the hot lowveld region was rife with malaria)no-one wanted to go there until Auguste Roberts (French Bob) discovered gold in Concession Creek in June 20 1883. This discovery resulted in a gold rush to the area.

On June 21 1884, Graham Barber wrote a letter to the State Secretary to inform him that he and his two cousins Fred and Harry discovered payable gold on state land where the Umvoti Creek entered the De Kaap valley. The State Secretary then asked the Magistrate in Lydenburg to investigate the matter and for David Wilson, the Gold Commissioner, to submit a report. Wilson investigated on July 24 1884 and declared the township of Barberton.

At first it was just a simple mining camp but grew when Edwin Bray, a prospector discovered gold in the hills above Barberton in 1885 and with 14 partners started the Sheba Reef Gold Mining Company.

Large amounts of money flowed into Barberton and the first Stock Exchange to operate in the then Transvaal opened its doors. More buildings were erected, billiard saloons and music halls established. The Criterion and Royal Standard hotels were opened.

Barberton flourished for only a brief period and soon the inhabitants began to move away to the newly discovered goldfields on the Reef.

Songimvelo Nature Reserve

This reserve is situated in the Barberton Mountainlands and is the Mpumalanga Parks Board's largest reserve, extending over 500 square kilometres.

Trivia

• The British built a concentration camp here during the Boer War to house Boer women and children.
• Sheba mine is today one of the oldest and richest working gold mines in the world, having been in production for more than a century. It is estimated that production will continue for several decades to come.
• Barberton was home to Percy Fitzpatrick , author of Jock of the Bushveld .
• A flower, the Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesoni) was discovered here in 1889 by Robert Jameson.