Germiston's history started when a gold prospector, John Jack, discovered gold on the farm Elandsfontein. He and his partner August Simmer promptly bought the farm and started mining. Jack was born on a farm called Germiston, near Glasgow in Scotland, and he named the town that developed next to the gold mine after his birthplace. Today, Germiston is the sixth-largest city in South Africa and has the largest railway junction in the country. It also boasts the world's largest gold refinery. The 75-year-old Rand Refinery handles 20 per cent of the western world's newly-mined gold. Germiston is a very important industrial centre and is home to 2 000 factories. It remains an important road and rail junction and is well placed for air transport - one of the country's busiest civil airports, RandAirport, and O.R.Thambo (Johannesburg) Airport are within easy reach. Katlehong was established almost a century ago to provide accommodation for black mineworkers working in the area. The Bedfordview area retains a country atmosphere and a quaint fact is that is has no cemetery. Only one person is buried in this area, Sir George Farrar, an early resident, mining magnate and politician.
