Accommodation near Kimberley Big Hole Museum

When one mentions Kimberley, it is more often than not followed by ‘the Big Hole’ in the same breath. The city and its main attraction after all, are more or less synonymous. The Big Hole Museum is an ode to the hole’s history (which is intrinsically linked to the city’s history) and is the only way in which to get a glimpse of this old site.

Kimberley is known as a major hub for diamond mining and the town’s original purpose for being was to support the mushrooming diamond-mining industry in the area. The Kimberley Big Hole harks back to the early days of this industry.

What is now a hole over 200 metres deep, was believe it or not, once a small flat-topped hill known as Colesberg Koppie. The story goes that a group of men were surveying the bottom area of the koppie for diamonds. A cook in their party was sent up to the top as a punishment for being drunk, and told not to return unless it was with a diamond. Sure enough, he returned carrying a small, rough specimen and within no time at all the top of the koppie was being excavated by many hopefuls. It was in this period; the early 1870’s, that the hill became a hole.

The developing mine, which was located on the De Beers family property, was closed in 1914 after 22.6 million tonnes of earth had been removed along with 13.6 million carats’ worth of diamonds.

Today the Kimberley Big Hole Museum puts the events into context using film and displays, which include the recreation of a 19th century mine shaft and a vault of real diamonds. The museum also provides insights into the process which transforms a rough diamond into the sparkly object most of us are familiar with (if only from the pages of a magazine).

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