Empire Exhibition, South Africa

Empire Exhibition, South Africa
Advertising poster for steam ship to the exhibition
Overview
BIE-class	Unrecognised exposition
Name	Empire Exhibition, South Africa
Area	Milner Park (now the University of the Witwatersrand west campus)
Visitors	1500000,[1] or over 2 million[2]
Organized by	The "Buy Empire Goods (South African and Overseas) Committee" of Johannesburg, with the City Council of Johannesburg and the Union Government[3]
Participant(s)
Countries	18
Location
Country	Union of South Africa
City	Johannesburg
Coordinates	26°11′23″S 28°01′33″E / 26.1896°S 28.0259°E / -26.1896; 28.0259
Timeline
Opening	15 September 1936
Closure	15 January 1937

The Empire Exhibition, South Africa, held in Johannesburg, was intended to mark that city's jubilee and was opened by the Governor-General of the Union of South Africa on 15 September 1936.^[3] It was the first exhibition held in the Union of South Africa^[3] following two earlier exhibitions in Cape Colony in 1877 and 1892.^[4] The idea of an empire exhibition in South Africa was first discussed in 1934 by the Buy Empire Committee of Johannesburg. On 9 January 1935, the Grand Council of the Federation of British Industries passed a resolution for a proposal to hold an Empire Exhibition in Johannesburg in 1936 in conjunction with the Golden Jubilee of the city.^{[citation needed]}

A site of 100 acres in Milner Park was secured for the exhibition. Here were built about 100 buildings including eight pavilions from foreign nations and eight main exhibition buildings, the largest being the Hall of Industries.^{[citation needed]}

The Schlesinger African Air Race was held in conjunction with the exhibition, with I W Schlesinger giving £10,000 in prize money.^[5]