Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens
Why Kimberley Matters
Kimberley has played an extraordinary role in South Africa's history for more than 150 years.
From diamonds and the Great Diamond Rush to war, political change and the growth of the international diamond industry, the city has helped shape modern South Africa.
These pages are an informal journey through the people, places and events that made Kimberley remarkable. Make yourself comfortable and enjoy exploring the story of one of South Africa's most fascinating cities.
View of the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens from Sol Plaatje Drive, with the bronze bust of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer framed by a graceful, curved marble colonnade. Photo: © Richard Jones, September 2026.
From Diamond City Memorial to a Changing University Precinct
The Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens occupy an important site in central Kimberley, between the William Humphreys Art Gallery and Sol Plaatje University’s North Campus. Created in memory of diamond magnate Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, the gardens contain some of Kimberley’s best-known public monuments, including the Diggers Fountain and the graceful marble colonnade framing the bronze bust of Oppenheimer himself.
But the story of this space is considerably broader than the monuments it contains. The gardens were developed as part of Kimberley’s new Civic Centre on land formerly occupied by the historic Malay Camp, and today they are changing again as they become increasingly integrated into the surrounding Sol Plaatje University precinct.
Visitor Information
Address: Sol Plaatje Drive (formerly Jan Smuts Boulevard), Kimberley Civic Centre, immediately opposite the William Humphreys Art Gallery and beside Sol Plaatje University’s Great Hall.
Time required: Allow approximately 10–20 minutes to view the gardens and monuments from the surrounding precinct, or include them as part of a wider visit to WHAG and Sol Plaatje University.
Security: ClearVu fencing currently surrounds the gardens, and access is controlled while rehabilitation work continues. You can still view parts of the gardens and their monuments from the surrounding street and public areas.
Who Was Sir Ernest Oppenheimer?
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (1880–1957) was one of the most influential figures in South Africa’s mining industry during the first half of the 20th century. He founded the Anglo American Corporation in 1917 and later became chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines, placing him at the centre of the international diamond industry Kimberley had become synonymous with.
Oppenheimer also played an important role in Kimberley’s civic life. When Kimberley and neighbouring Beaconsfield were incorporated into a single city in 1912, he became the first elected mayor of the enlarged municipality. His relationship with Kimberley therefore extended beyond mining. The gardens created after his death commemorate both his importance to the diamond industry and his association with the city.
Before the Gardens – The Malay Camp
The history of the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens begins long before the gardens themselves were created. Much of the present Civic Centre and gardens occupy land that once formed part of Kimberley’s historic Malay Camp, one of the city’s oldest residential communities.
Growing out of the early mining settlement, Malay Camp developed into a diverse, multi-racial neighbourhood of homes, shops, schools, churches, mosques and other community institutions. In some respects, its story echoes that of Cape Town’s District Six: a long-established, diverse urban community whose physical presence was later largely erased through redevelopment and forced removal.
Among its best-known residents was Sol Plaatje. The house he lived in survives today as the Sol Plaatje Library & Museum on Angel Street, providing an important physical link to the community that once occupied this part of Kimberley.
In 1939, De Beers transferred the Malay Camp land to the Kimberley municipality on condition that the area be cleared and redeveloped as public open space. Clearance began before the Group Areas Act of 1950 and continued over the following two decades. Homes, businesses, community buildings and mosques disappeared as residents were displaced and the old neighbourhood was progressively demolished. By the 1950s, the area was being transformed into Kimberley’s new Civic Centre.
From Malay Camp to Memorial Gardens
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer died on 25 November 1957, while the Civic Centre was being redeveloped. A formal garden was subsequently created in his memory as part of this new civic landscape. The Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens opened to the public in December 1961. Landscaped lawns, flower beds and a rose garden created an attractive green space in the centre of Kimberley, while the Diggers Fountain and other memorials connected the gardens directly with the city’s diamond-mining heritage.
For decades, the gardens became a familiar part of Kimberley life. Their lawns and picturesque rose garden provided a setting for picnics, family outings, wedding and matric photographs, and informal recreation.
Over time, however, the gardens' character changed. In more recent years, they became a popular gathering place, particularly in the evenings, with music and informal social activity. Concerns about alcohol use, security and antisocial behaviour meant that many residents became increasingly reluctant to use the gardens after dark.
Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens, circa 1963.
A New Chapter – Sol Plaatje University
Another major transformation began with the establishment of Sol Plaatje University in 2014. The new university brought substantial investment, construction and student life into a part of central Kimberley that had experienced years of decline. Its expanding campus increasingly surrounded the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens, changing the relationship between the gardens and the wider city centre.
In April 2021, negotiations began between Sol Plaatje Local Municipality and the University over the possible sale of the gardens. The proposal attracted public attention because of the site's historical importance, and objections were raised in 2022. After extended discussions, the sale was concluded in September 2023, and Sol Plaatje University acquired ownership of the gardens in February 2024.
The University has since constructed its Great Hall within the precinct. Together with the William Humphreys Art Gallery immediately opposite, the gardens now sit at the centre of an unusual concentration of heritage, art, architecture, education and public space. What was once an isolated municipal garden is therefore increasingly becoming part of a much larger cultural and educational precinct in central Kimberley.
The Future – Towards a Botanical Garden
Sol Plaatje University plans to rehabilitate the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens and develop them as a botanical garden, while preserving their important monuments and heritage features. The proposed garden is intended to function as an open-air laboratory for academics and students in the University’s Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences. The emerging vision places greater emphasis on indigenous plants and species suited to the Northern Cape’s dry environment, creating opportunities for teaching, research, conservation and environmental education. The University hopes that, once completed, the garden may eventually receive recognition from the South African National Biodiversity Institute and potentially become South Africa’s tenth recognised botanical garden.
The vision extends beyond academic use. The gardens are also intended to accommodate public activities such as exhibitions, book clubs, open-air theatre and musical performances, with public access taking place on a more regulated basis and by arrangement with the University.
Before this can happen, the gardens require considerable rehabilitation. Infrastructure improvements include new security cameras, Wi-Fi, lighting, irrigation and pump houses, together with restoration and landscaping work needed to prepare the site for its botanical and educational role. The gardens are therefore temporarily closed while this work progresses.
Preserving the Gardens’ Monuments
An important part of the redevelopment is preserving the historic monuments already in the gardens.
The Bust of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer
Overlooking the gardens is a bronze bust of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, framed by a graceful curved marble colonnade. Sculptor Rhona Stern created the original twice-life-size bronze bust, unveiled on 20 November 1962. It was notable as the first bronze bust in South Africa designed to stand permanently outdoors. The original was stolen in December 1988 and has subsequently been replaced by a replica.
The colonnade is more than an architectural decoration. Its curved row of marble columns creates a formal backdrop to the bust and establishes a ceremonial focal point overlooking the gardens. Together, the bust and colonnade give the memorial a commanding position above the landscaped space, while the miners represented by Herman Wald’s Diggers Fountain occupy the garden below. The composition brings together two sides of Kimberley’s diamond story — industrial leadership and capital on the one hand, and mining labour on the other.
Bronze bust of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer in the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens, framed by a graceful curved marble colonnade. Photo: © Richard Jones, February 2006.
Bronze bust of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer in the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens. Photo: © Richard Jones, February 2006.
The Diggers Fountain
The best-known feature of the gardens is the Diggers Fountain, also called the Diggers Memorial, Diamond Diggers Monument or Miners Memorial. Created by Hungarian-born South African sculptor Herman Wald, the monument consists of five life-sized miners raising a large diamond-sorting sieve above their heads. Wald completed the work in 1960, and the gardens opened to the public in December 1961.
The five figures represent Kimberley’s five great diamond mines: Kimberley Mine, De Beers Mine, Bultfontein Mine, Dutoitspan Mine and Wesselton Mine. Together, these mines transformed the scattered diamond diggings of the 1870s into one of the world’s great mining centres.
Harry Oppenheimer gave the fountain to Kimberley in memory of his father, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. Wald’s powerful composition portrays the miners working collectively, their raised sieve forming the centrepiece of the monument. The massive bronze sieve was stolen in October 2020, leaving the sculpture incomplete, although plans have been discussed to replace it with a replica sieve. The monument nevertheless remains one of Kimberley’s most recognisable pieces of public sculpture.
Diggers Fountain in the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens. Photo: © Richard Jones, February 2006.
Diggers Fountain in the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens. Photo: © Richard Jones, September 2026.
Memorial to the Malay Camp
Although the physical neighbourhood of Malay Camp had largely disappeared, people did not forget its history. In 2006, the Malay Camp Heritage Association erected a memorial within the gardens to commemorate the community that had once lived there. Northern Cape Premier Dipuo Peters unveiled it on 18 September 2006.
At the unveiling, particular emphasis was placed on the forced removal of residents, the destruction of homes and religious buildings, and the cosmopolitan character of Malay Camp, where people of different racial and cultural backgrounds had lived alongside one another. The memorial therefore adds an important second layer to the gardens' meaning. They commemorate the wealth and civic influence created by Kimberley’s diamond industry, but they also occupy ground associated with displacement, loss and dramatic changes to the city’s urban landscape.
The history of this site — from cosmopolitan Malay Camp, to Civic Centre and public gardens, and now to university precinct — is what makes it particularly significant.
Mallett, Louis. 2007. The Malay Camp Kimberley: forceful removal imposed by the apartheid regime. Kimberley: Sol Plaatje Educational Trust.
Sol Plaatje Bronze Statue
One of Kimberley's most recognisable modern monuments stands in the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens just across Sol Plaatje Drive, in front of the Sol Plaatje Municipality Offices. The bronze statue portrays Sol Plaatje seated in a relaxed pose, inviting visitors to pause alongside one of South Africa's greatest thinkers. Sculptor Johan Moolman created the monument, which reflects both Plaatje's personality and his life's work. President Jacob Zuma unveiled the statue on 9 January 2010 during celebrations marking the 98th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress.
Bronze statue of Sol Plaatje in the Earnest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens, in front of the Sol Plaatje Municipality Offices. Photo: © Richard Jones, September 2026.
Why the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens Matter
Few places in Kimberley contain so many different layers of the city’s history within such a small area.
The gardens commemorate Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and the diamond industry that helped shape modern Kimberley. The Diggers Fountain represents the miners whose labour made that industry possible. The Malay Camp Memorial remembers a diverse community displaced by the Civic Centre's creation. Across the road, the William Humphreys Art Gallery reflects Kimberley’s long cultural tradition, while Sol Plaatje University represents a new era of education, architecture and urban regeneration.
The gardens should therefore be understood as far more than an Oppenheimer memorial or an attractive green space. They are a landscape in which successive generations of Kimberley have left their mark: mining town, cosmopolitan neighbourhood, segregated city, civic centre, public garden and now university precinct.
The challenge — and opportunity — presented by their redevelopment is to preserve and interpret all these layers rather than allowing any one period of the site’s history to overshadow the others. If the redevelopment succeeds in bringing these layers together, the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens could become one of Kimberley’s most interesting heritage, botanical and educational spaces.
The Great Hall at Sol Plaatje University overlooks the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens. Photo: © Richard Jones, September 2026.
William Humphreys Art Gallery overlooks the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens. Photo: © Richard Jones, September 2026.
Combine Your Visit With
The Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens are ideally situated for exploring several nearby cultural and heritage attractions. Combine your time at the gardens with the William Humphreys Art Gallery, the Queen Victoria Bronze Statue, the Sol Plaatje University campuses, the Sol Plaatje Library & Museum, or the Kimberley Club.
Continue Exploring Kimberley
Kimberley’s monuments, museums and historic buildings tell the story of a city shaped by diamonds, empire, war, industry and political change. Explore more of Kimberley’s remarkable past through our History & Heritage guides.