Stage 1
At the waypoint in Stage 1 of this Multicache you find yourself right in front of the Pretoria Station Building, which is situated between the Pretoria CBD and Salvokop. The first railway station in Pretoria was completed in 1893 by the Nederlansche Zuid- Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NZASM). This station was the Western Terminus of the railway line between Pretoria and Delagoa Bay (now Maputo). This line was opened on 2 November 1894. Later on our yourney you will notice the NZASM building, which was completed in November 1963 and which is currently still the home of the Administration of Transnet, the Government owned company that owns and operates the South African railway network.
The current station building which you see before you replaced the original NZASM station shortly after the establishment of the Union of South Africa. It was designed by Sir Herbert Baker who also designed the Union Buildings.
Making your way to Stage 2:
PLEASE NOTE: Security is tight in this muggle zone so just take down the most necessary information and then rather complete your calculations in the garden to the North in front of the building.
The Stage 2 waypoint of the Multicache is located at the co-ordinates: S25 45.BBB E 028 11.AAA
To caculate AAA, take approximately 20 steps to the South from the waypoint in Stage 1. This should bring you to the large wooden doors leading into the station building. On the wall between the doors you will see a plaque detailing the history of this beautiful building.
To calculate AAA – Add the following together and multiply the answer with 4:
- Z = The day of the month on which the building was opened
- Y = The number of characters used in the date on the plaque to depict the day on which the building was opened
- X = The number of the month in which the building was opened
- W = The sum of the digits in the year in which the original station was completed (example: if the year was 1925 then 1+9+2+5 = 17)
- V = The sum of the digits in the year in which the South African Union was established
- U = The sum of the digits in the year in which the current station was opened
AAA = (Z+Y+X+W+V+U) x 4
After completing your research for AAA take another 20 steps South into the station building; then turn left. You should now be facing a bright yellow sign board for an establishment that sells coffee. If you walk towards the sign you will notice on your right a painting on the wall comprising of 9 squares with scenes depicting typical South African activities and symbols.
PLEASE NOTE: Security is tight in this muggle zone so just take down the most necessary information and then rather complete your calculations in the garden to the North in front of the building.
To calculate BBB do the following calculation:
- T = the number of chickens in the lower right hand block of the painting
- S = the number of proteas in the centre block of the painting
BBB = (T x 50) + (S x 10)
Stage 2
Now that you are at the waypoint in Stage 2 you have arrived in an area known as Pretorius Square. It is a garden area between 2 important landmarks in Pretoria. On Sunday afternoons you can sometimes encounter friendly cricket matches on the grass in the garden.
The beautifully designed City Hall was inaugurated in 1935. Construction on the building only started in 1931, but was based on a design by FG McIntosh that was obtained through an architectural design competition that took place more than 100 years earlier in 1826.
The building has an impressive clock tower with 32 bells and was designed in a Semi-Italian Classical Style.
With your back to the City Hall you should now face a tall bronze statue that was unveiled in 2006. The statute represents one of the possible origins of the traditional name of the area in which Pretoria was established.
The Apies River runs through Pretoria. The African name of the River is the Tshwane River and Tshwane is the original indigenous name of the area in which Pretoria was established. While it is generally accepted that Tshwane is the indigenous name of the area, the origin of the name Tshwane is not at all clear and is in fact shrouded in controversy. Linguists assures us that Tshwane is not a Setswana translation of the name of the Apies River.
There are 3 possible origins of the name Tshwane:
- It either derived from a word related to a black cow used in a Setswana rain making ceremony in times of drought; or
- It derived from a Setswana word that some people wishes to interpret as meaning “we are similar”. This meaning attributed the word Tshwane is also heavily disputed by linguists; or
- It derived from the name of chief Tshwane, the son of Chief Mushi, the leader of a tribe from Zululand that settled in the area in the early 1700’s. The very existence of such a chief is even disputed by some historians.
Making your way to Stage 3:
Lets get back to your quest for the waypoint in the next Stage of the Multicache: to find your way to the Stage 3 waypoint at co-ordinates S25 45.CCC E 028 11.DDD you need to do the following calculations:
To calculate CCC:
- R = The number of letters making up the name and surname of the person who modelled the statue;
- Q = The numeric value of the second last letter of the last line on the plaque (where a=1, b=2, c=3 etc)
CCC = (R x 10) + Q
To calculate DDD, turn around and face the City Hall:
- P = the number of lions appearing in the sandstone relief in the triangle on the front of the building above the entrance.
DDD = CCC + (P x 100)
Stage 3
At the co-ordinates of the waypoint in Stage 3 you will see another tall statue. Pretoria was named after this Voortrekker leader. He is the same famous Voortrekker leader that lead the Voortrekkers in the defeat of the Zulus at Bloedrivier in December 1838.
He was also the leader of the Boers when the Sandrivier Convention was signed with the British in 1852. In terms of this Convention the British acknowledged the independence of Transvaal. This lead to the establishment of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek on 1 May 1860 with Pretoria as its capital. This effectively marked the end of the Groot Trek of the Voortrekkers out of the Cape Colony.
Making your way to Stage 4:
To continue your trek to the waypoint in Stage 4 of the Multicache, located at S25 45.EEE E 028 11.FFF, you need to do the following calculations:
To calculate EEE:
- O = The age of the Voortrekker Leader, determined by subtracting his year of birth from his year of death
- N = The numeric value of the second last letter in the surname of the Voortrekker leader, where a=1, b=2, c =3 etc
EEE = (O x 3) + N
To calculate FFF simply add 111 to EEE:
FFF = EEE + 111
Stage 4
At the waypoint in Stage 4 of the Multicache you encounter another statue. This time it is a statute of a Boer leader. This leader founded Pretoria and named the city after his father whom you visited in Stage 3.
This Boer leader was the first president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. He was at the same time also the President of the Orange Free State. As normally the case with politics, this dual role gave rise to tension and in 1869 he resigned as president of the ZAR. He was again re-elected to this position in 1864 and he then held the presidency to 1871. He also served together with Paul Kruger and Piet Joubert in the period from December 1880 to May 1883 when the Transvaal was ruled by the so called Triumvirate. Thereafter oom Paul, as President Kruger was affectionately known, was elected as the president of the ZAR.
At first this Boer leader was based at the then capital of the ZAR, namely Potchefstroom. Potchefstroom is also where the Writer of the Cache Listing grew up and went to University.
In 1860, a few years after it was established, Pretoria replaced Potchefstroom as the capital of the ZAR. Pretoria is also the place where Winston Churchill was imprisoned in 1899 during the second South African War between the Boers and the British.
When the Union was established, Pretoria became the administrative capital of the Union and it is still today the Executive Capital of South Africa.
Making your way to the Final Cache location:
To make your way to the final location where the cache is hidden at S25 45.GGG E 028 11.HHH you need to do a final set of calculations:
To calculate GGG, face the statue with your back to the road. In the vicinity of the statue there are some metal plaques depicting important moments in the history of Pretoria. The date on which the city was established and named appear on one of the plaques:
- N = the year in which Pretoria was established and named
- M = (L x K) - 51 where
- L = the day on which the city was founded and
- K = the number of the month in which the City was founded
GGG = (N – M)/10
To calculate HHH:
- J = the age of the Boer leader, determined by subtracting his year of birth from his year of decease
HHH = (J x 3) - 35
Final Waypoint
The cache is located next to a wall on the side of a parking area at the back of the City Hall offering you a clear view of the impressive bell tower. It is a high muggle area so please use stealth to protect the cache.
If you still have time, a quick visit to the historic church square where you could see a statute of Oom Paul will nicely round off your historic trip through this part of Pretoria.
Waymarks:
While you have taken all the trouble to visit Pretorius Square you may also be interested in visiting the Waymarks of TeamTGF on the square listed as follows on www.waymarking.com:
- WM1CRJ
- WM1CRZ
- WM1CRP
- WM1CRM
- WM1CT0