HOËRSKOOL BRANDWAG

Thu, 19 May 2005 09:11

School Profile

Hoërskool Brandwag is a happy school in Benoni, a town whose name does not have a happy meaning. When Rachel was dying in childbirth she called the baby boy Benoni - son of my suffering. Jacob then changed the boy's name to Benjamin.

Benoni grew up on a farm of that name, presumably so called because the Voortrekker who settled there had found the going tough!.

The East Rand town of Benoni founded in 1904 and developed into a mining and industrial centre, part of the Witwatersrand's gold mining, with mine dumps, fewer now, all around it, a smart town with three lakes - a neat, open place.

In 1916 Afrikaans parents petitioned the East Rand Schools Board for the formation of Dutch medium school for their children, and in 1917 the Nederlands Medium Skool was founded. The first head was Prof. JAS van Heerden, who later became the Rector of the Pretoria Teachers' College. Brandwag is the second oldest Afrikaans medium school in the Gauteng province.

The school started with 307 pupils in six classrooms in the Northmead suburb of Benoni. In 1929 the name of the school had been changed to Brandwag (Keeper of the Fire). Numbers were expanding fast, and by 1934 Brandwag had more than 1 000 pupils. There are still roughly a thousand pupils at the school.

Information

Name of School: Hoërskool Brandwag
Headmaster: RJ Pieterse
Founding Date: 1917
School Address: Post Box 13191, Northmead 1511
www.hsbrandwag.co.za
Badge:  A peak in the Darkensberg rising above the clouds.

Rugby

Brandwag plays in the Falcons league for medium schools, and are usually one of the leading sides in that league. In 1966 Brandwag won the Administrator;s Cup, now called the Beeld Trophy. They repeated this success in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 lost in the final. In 2003 they became national champions winning the Media24 championship for Medium Schools when they beat Afrikaans Hoër of Kroonstad 25-20 in the final at Ellis Park. This year they won the Super 16 when they beat Wesvalia 24-3 in the final.

Several Brandwag players have gone the Craven Week - four in 2001, four in 2002 and five in 2003.

Traditional Rivals

These include Oosterlig of Boksburg and Hugenote of Springs.

Famous Players

Brandwag is particularly proud of its two Springbok alumni, Gerrie Germishuys and Johan Ackermann.