Standerton

Standerton, a town of the Transvaal, 114 m. S.E. of Johannesburg, on the railway from that city, via Newcastle to Durban, distant 369 m. Pop. (1904), 45 8 9, of whom 2136 were white. Standerton is 5025 ft. above the sea and is built on the north bank of the Vaal, here spanned by two fine bridges. It is the chief town of a district of the same name and the centre of an important agricultural and pastoral region. A government stud farm is maintained here. In the neighbourhood are coalfields. The name of the town is derived from that of the former owner of the site, an Adrian Stander, who fought against the British at Boomplaats in 1848. The town was laid out in 1870. Since 1903 it has been governed by a municipality.