1909 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1909 in South Africa.

← 1908 1907 1906 1909 in South Africa → 1910 1911 1912
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa:Walter Hely-Hutchinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Matthew Nathan.
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Leander Starr Jameson.
• Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal: Frederick Robert Moor.
• Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony: Hamilton John Goold-Adams.
• Prime Minister of the Transvaal Colony: Louis Botha.

Events

February

• 25 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested at Volksrust for failure to produce a registration certificate and is sentenced to 3 months imprisonment.

June

• 15 – Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's Cricket Ground and form the Imperial Cricket Conference (ICC).
• Mahatma Gandhi embarks in Cape Town for Southampton, England.

November

• 30 – Mahatma Gandhi and the Transvaal Indian Deputation arrive back in Cape Town.

December

• 28 – The first manned heavier-than-air powered flight in South Africa is made by French aviator Albert Kimmerling by taking off from the Nahoon Racecourse at East London in a Voisin 1907 biplane.[1]

Unknown date

• South Africa becomes the first non-European country to join FIFA.

Births

• 19 March – Louis Hayward, South African-born actor. (d. 1985)
• 5 September – Yusuf Dadoo, doctor and politician. (d. 1983)
• 5 December – Bobbie Heine Miller, South African tennis player. (d. 2016)

Deaths

• 13 April – Sir Donald Currie GCMG, shipping magnate and donor of the Currie Cups for rugby and cricket. (b. 1825)

Railways

NGR Class B

NGR Mallet

NGR Class C 4-8-2T

Railway lines opened

• 4 February – Natal – Creighton to Riverside (Cape), 12 miles 3 chains (19.4 kilometres).[2]
• 1 April – Natal – Vryheid East to Hlobane, 17 miles (27.4 kilometres).[2]
• 18 May – Cape Midland – Barkly Bridge to Alexandria, 54 miles 20 chains (87.3 kilometres).[3]

Locomotives

• Two new Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the Natal Government Railways (NGR):
  • The first five of thirty 4-8-2 tender locomotives, the world's first true Mountain type locomotive. In 1912 it will be designated Class B on the South African Railways (SAR).[4][5][6]
  • A single 2-6-6-0 Mallet articulated compound steam locomotive, the first Mallet type to enter service in South Africa. In 1912 it will be designated Class MA on the SAR.[4][6]
• The NGR begins to modify some of its Class C 4-10-2T Reid Tenwheeler locomotives to a 4-8-2T wheel arrangement to make them suitable for yard work without the risk of derailing as a result of the long ten-coupled wheelbase. In 1912 these will be designated Class H2 on the SAR.[6][7]

References

1. South African Power Flying Association - 1910 to 1920 - Early Flying in South Africa Archived 20 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed on 26 November 2016)
2. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 186, ref. no. 200954-13
3. Report for year ending 31 December 1909, Cape Government Railways, Section VIII - Dates of Opening and the Length of the different Sections in the Cape Colony, from the Year 1873 to 31st December, 1909.
4. Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. 1: 1859–1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 102–105. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
5. Holland, D. F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
6. Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 31–33, 36, 84–85. ISBN 0869772112.
7. The Railway Report for year ending 31 Dec. 1908, Natal Government Railways, p. 39, par 14.