06/04/2026
Early History of the Big Five Diamond Mines in Kimberley
The diamond revolution that created modern Kimberley began with alluvial ("wet") discoveries along South Africa's major rivers, followed by the far richer kimberlite pipe ("dry") diggings that produced the legendary Big Five mines.
In 1866–1867, 15-year-old Erasmus Jacobs found a shiny pebble on his father’s farm near Hopetown, 124 km southwest of present-day Kimberley. It was later identified as the 21.25-carat Eureka Diamond — South Africa’s first recorded diamond.
In March 1869, a Griqua shepherd (often named Swartbooi or associated with a local diviner) discovered a much larger 83.5-carat rough diamond on the banks of the Orange River. Sold to trader Schalk van Niekerk and eventually cut into the 47.69-carat Star of South Africa (also known as the Dudley Diamond), this spectacular find triggered South Africa’s first significant diamond rush to the river gravels.
While the initial rush focused on the Orange River, a second and even greater wave of activity erupted in 1869–1870along the Vaal River at Canteen Koppie, near the fording place known as Klipdrift (about 33 km west-northwest of modern Kimberley). This became South Africa’s first major alluvial diamond diggings. Thousands of fortune-seekers descended on the site.
The area was hotly contested. The Korana chief Jan Bloem II and later Kgosi (Chief) Luka Jantjie (c. 1835–1897) of the Batswana people claimed the territory, but armed diggers, led by figures such as Roderick Barker, drove them away. The independent Boer Republic of the Orange Free State claimed the south bank of the Vaal, while the Transvaal Republic claimed the north. Rejecting both, the diggers declared independence in July 1870 under the short-lived Klipdrift Republic (also called the Diggers’ Republic), with Stafford Parker as president. By December 1870, roughly 10,000 people — mostly British settlers — had crowded into the chaotic camp.
The British Cape Colony also asserted authority. Ownership disputes were eventually submitted to arbitration, with the Griqua people initially awarded the land. However, amid ongoing chaos and pressure, the Griqua leadership was persuaded to cede the territory to the British. In 1871, Cape Governor Sir Henry Barkly visited the diggings, and the main camp of Klipdrift was renamed Barkly West in his honour. Canteen Koppie remains a national monument today, marking the birthplace of South Africa’s industrial diamond era.
At the height of the Vaal River rush in 1870, attention began shifting inland to the “dry diggings.” Diamonds were found in the mud-brick walls of a farmhouse on the Bultfontein farm (Afrikaans for “hilly fountain”), owned by Cornelis du Plooy. The house was quickly dismantled, and frantic digging exposed the kimberlite pipe that became the Bultfontein Mine.
In late 1869–December 1870, children of Adriaan van Wyk discovered diamonds just 1km away while playing near a pan on their father’s farm Dorstfontein (associated with Abraham Paulus du Toit). An army of diggers rushed in, overwhelming the landowner, who could do little more than collect claim fees as his farmland vanished in clouds of red dust. This site developed into the Dutoitspan Mine (Du Toit’s Pan).
In May 1871, a new discovery was made on the farm Vooruitzicht (“outlook” or “prospect”), owned since 1860 by the Boer brothers Diederick and Nicolaas de Beer. A prospecting party, acting on rumours of surface finds, uncovered diamonds on this modest property. This opened the De Beers Mine, the third major pipe in the cluster.
Just two months later, on or around 17–18 July 1871, a servant named Damon (or Damoense), employed by Fleetwood Rawstorne’s party from Colesberg (then working at Dutoitspan), found several diamonds on a small hillock called Colesberg Kopje on the same Vooruitzicht farm. The news sparked the explosive “New Rush” — thousands of diggers from around the world converged in a frenzy. This became the Kimberley Mine, later world-famous as the Big Hole.
By 1873, British colonial authorities needed to formalise administration in the newly annexed Griqualand West. Cape Colonial Secretary J.B. Currey proposed renaming the booming settlement Kimberley after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies. Lord Kimberley had objected to “indecent and unintelligible” names such as “New Rush” and the Dutch Vooruitzigt. A proclamation dated 5 July 1873 made the change official, granting the town (and its fourth major mine) the name it still bears today.
On 16 August 1883, the neighbouring camps of Dutoitspan and Bultfontein were combined and renamed Beaconsfield, honouring British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1st Earl of Beaconsfield). It gained municipal status and developed as a distinct community with its own town hall (opened 1888 as South Africa’s first war memorial), public library (1889), tramway connection to Kimberley, and early electric lighting.
The fifth and final pipe in the Kimberley cluster was discovered in late 1890 on land owned by the Wessels family, 3km east of Dutoitspan. Initially called the Premier Mine (not to be confused with the Cullinan/Premier Mine near Pretoria), it was acquired by De Beers in 1891 and officially renamed the Wesselton Mine in 1904 in honour of the original landowners.
The Big Five in Perspective
The Big Five — Bultfontein, Dutoitspan, De Beers, Kimberley (the Big Hole), and Wesselton — were all kimberlite pipes located within a few kilometres of one another. Their rapid development transformed a remote, semi-arid farming area into a global diamond powerhouse. Cecil Rhodes and others consolidated claims, leading to the formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888, which came to dominate world production.
These mines shifted diamond extraction from small-scale river panning to large-scale open-pit and later underground operations. Together they yielded millions of carats, drew tens of thousands of workers (including the early migrant labour compound system), and powered South Africa’s Mineral Revolution, profoundly shaping its economy, infrastructure, and politics.
Today, the Big Hole (Kimberley Mine) is a major tourist attraction. The other mines closed in the 20th and early 21st centuries (with some tailings reprocessing continuing for a time). Their legacy endures in Kimberley’s landscape, museums, and place in South African history.
(Richard Jones April 2026)
