IRENE (village near Centurion, Pretoria)

Privately published, hardcover, landscape format, colour/ b&w photographic imagery, 138 pages, 138 pages, small closed tear to dust jacket, otherwise condition: as new.

Irene is a village on the eastern outskirts of Centurion, Gauteng.

Irene was first proclaimed a township in 1902 by Johannes Albertus van der Byl (better known as Bertie), who had bought the Irene Estate in 1895. Bertie was first in the line of the Irene-born van der Byls that continues to this day, and who are now in their fifth generation. The family has been responsible for building up the herd of dairy cows on the farm, as well as planting many hundreds of trees.In 1908, Jan Smuts ,needing a home for his growing family, bought a third of the original Doornkloof farm.