1909 in South Africa

	1909 in South Africa
1906 1907 1908 « 1909 » 1910 1911 1912
List of years in South Africa

Events

February

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

June

• 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 – First manned, heavier-than-air powered flight in South Africa was made by French aviator Albert Kimmerling by taking off from the Nahoon Racecourse East London in a Voisin single-sea engine powered pusher bi-plane.^[1]

Unknown date

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

Births

• 5 September – Yusuf Dadoo, doctor and politician. (d. 1983)

Deaths

• 13 April – Sir Donald Currie GCMG, shipping magnate and donor of the Currie Cups for rugby and cricket, dies in Sidmouth, England at the age of 83. (b. 1825)

Railways

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]:102–103[5][6]:36}
  • A single 2-6-6-0 Mallet articulated compound steam locomotive, the first Mallet type in South Africa. In 1912 it will be designated Class MA on the SAR.^{[4]:103–105[6]:84–85}
• The NGR begins to modify some of its Class C 4-10-2T 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]:31–33[7]}

References

1. http://www.sapfa.org.za/history/1910-1920-early-flying-south-africa 1910 to 1920 - Early Flying in South Africa
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, Volume 1: 1859-1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
5. Holland, D.F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 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. ISBN 0869772112.
7. The Railway Report for year ending 31 Dec. 1908, Natal Government Railways, p. 39, par 14.