The Transvaal Republic became a British colony after the Boer War in 1902, and then a large province in the Union of South Africa, when it was created in 1910. For sporting purposes, the province was broken into a number of smaller entities - Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern Transvaal. Southern Transvaal was usually just referred to as "Transvaal."

In the 1970's a sporting province known as the Vaal Triangle was created around Sasolburg, van der Bijl Park and Vereeniging.

No maps showing the old provinces of South Africa were found online. Provincial boundaries were redrawn after 1995, and new names were invented for these new entities. This map shows the four Transvaal provinces and their traditional districts. Former Homelands are shown as white areas.

Click here to see a map of all the locations.

Southern Transvaal

The small but densely populated province has numerous municipal, state and private school swimming facilities - and few dead pools. The industrial and mining centre of the country, it included Johannesburg and its surrounding towns of Randburg, Sandton, Germiston and Edenvale.

Northern Transvaal

The sporting province dates from the 1920's, originally part of Transvaal province. It covered an area that stretches in a V-shape north from Pretoria along the N1, to the Rhodesian/Zimbabwe border. It also included Pietersburg, Louis Trichard, Tzaneen and other smaller centres.

Western Transvaal

The province is a mix of gold ming and farming. The home of the Mielieboere, this province stretched from the western suburbs of Johannesburg to the Botswana border. Towns inluded Rustenburg, Krugersdorp, Roodepoort, Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp.

Eastern Transvaal

East of Johannesburg - all the way to the Mozambique border, lies the Eastern Transvaal - now known as Mpumalanga. The province, including towns like Benoni, Boksburg, Springs, Witbank, Ermelo, Nelspruit, and numerous smaller centres was once a powerhouse of South African water polo. It was also the home of the SAASU under Boksburg attorney Issy Kramer.

Transvaal was a large province, seperated into Southern, Northern, Eastern and Western Transvaal provinces. The highest concentration of English schools were in the Southern Transvaal province, of which Johannesburg is the main centre. Pretoria school sports is (was) dominated by Afrikaans schools.

History has had an great impact on the development of schools and school sports in the Transvaal. After the Boer War ended in 1902, the new British governor in the Transvaal was Lord Milner, who had an unfavorable view of Afrikaners and, as a matter of philosophy, saw the British as "a superior race". In order to Anglicize the Transvaal Milner set out to influence British education in the area for the English-speaking populations.

Milner founded a series of schools known as the "Milner Schools" in South Africa. These schools include modern-day Pretoria High School for Girls, Pretoria Boys High School, Jeppe High School for Boys, King Edward VII School (Johannesburg), Potchefstroom High School for Boys and Hamilton Primary School. Today these are the leading schools for aquatic sports in the Transvaal. 

Transvaal is also famous for the traditional yearly inter-schools gala held at Ellis Park.

Click HERE and zoom in to see many of the school pools today.

Transvaal

Johannesburg

• King Edward VII (KES)
• St John's College
• Parktown BHS
• St Mary's School for Girls
• Kingsmead College 
• Roedene
• Jeppe Girls
• St Andrew's School for Girls

Eastern Transvaal 

Benoni

Boksburg

Western Transvaal

Klerksdorp

• Hoërskool Klerksdorp
• St Conrads - now Curro

Potchefstroom

• Potchefstroom Gimnasium
• Potchefstroom High School For Boys
• Potchefstroom Central School
• The High School for Girls Potchefstroom

Northern Transvaal 

Pretoria

The annual Transvaal (name called Gauteng) Inter-High Gala for A Teams took place on the 27th of February, 2013