Empire Exhibition, Johannesburg

EXPO Johannesburg 1936–1937
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, or over 2 million
Organized by	The "Buy Empire Goods (South African and Overseas) Committee" of Johannesburg, with the City Council of Johannesburg and the Union Government
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; 28.0259Coordinates: 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 on 15 September 1936. It was the first exhibition held in the Union of South Africa following two earlier exhibitions in Cape Colony in 1877 and 1892.

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

There was a Palestine temple exhibition showing models of the Tabernacle of Moses, temples of Adrianus, Herod, Justinian, Solomon and Zrubabel, the mosque of Omar and a panorama of Jerusalem.

The Western Province's exhibit was displayed in Cape House, designed in Cape Dutch style. This building became the staff club at the West Campus of the University of the Witwatersrand.

The Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company (now Eskom) sponsored the building of an art deco tower made of reinforced concrete which overlooked the main axis of the fair. This remained standing after the fair and after a period of use as the north tower of a cable car system became a tuck shop and security office for the University of the Witwatersrand's west campus. The Transvaal Chamber of Mines had a pavilion with dioramas, fountains, a pillar replesenting the gold output from the Witwatersrand mines from 1933 to 1935, and a life size replica of mine workings. There was a hall of South African Industries, a South African Iron and Steel Industry pavilion,and the British South Africa Company presented a series of pictures to represent the history of Rhodesia (Southern Rhodesia).