Visions of Gold

foreign [Music] have you ever dreamed you walked down some imagined Corridor a Labyrinth of elusive fantasy each with one part of the combination known only to himself [Music] and perhaps you go inside gold the thread from which we weave our dreams the key to stability here they are the bricks with which to build a solid house a vision of gold [Music] [Applause] and then perhaps you leave the Treasure House and the dream is ended fantasy or reality often difficult to separate for reality is born of Dreams [Music] they had dreams too those first pioneers who came to the South African highfelt they came with a vision not of gold but of a new nation they Trek northwards to build for themselves the sort of Life they wanted and they didn't know that beneath the Hooves of their cattle and the wheels of their wagons was the world's richest gold field they had more lasting values they sought reality not fantasy there were others who followed a safe few places behind not for them the urge to settle to build they dreamed of easy wealth 49ers from California diggers from Australia adventurers from everywhere and nowhere they came to South Africa men like George Walker who crossed the high felt on foot and at White Waters Ridge the only place where the buried Reef touched the surface stumbled and fell and in that moment saw his dreams come true as he kicked open the door to the greatest Treasure House the world has ever known the cry was gold and from all over the world in Britain Germany France Russia from the American far west from Bulgaria Latvia Bosnia and who knows where the whole high-spirited Ram Dazzle of professional Digger them the dreamers set sail for their last great rallying point on the face of the Earth oh a wave of opportunists of Romantics journeyed to a tent and Tin Shanty nowhere on the rim of the golden Reef [Music] [Applause] digging sifting panning spurred on by the promise of wealth that might be theirs unaware that they were only scratching the surface of the mightiest Gold Reef the world had ever known let the dream of Untold wealth wasn't the only one even more fantastic things were attempted a great technical age was Dawning the world was fired with a new spirit of discovery there was a lot of inventiveness the internal combustion engine the radio the phonograph the world didn't know if it was coming or going the age of the one horse prospector was well and truly over [Music] came a new kind of dreamer to follow the goal deeper into the Earth bringing with them their steam engines compressors Crushers building their minds and their baronial Mansions they moved in and pitched their tents four stories high and what a history of bargaining as they maneuvered until every known corner of the reef was in their grasp they cleared the rocks and thorn trees on the rugged High felt creating unbelievable islands of opulence amid the dust and bustle of the mining camps foreign at the weekend a quiet Soiree at home with a trio of imported Maiden aunts a trip overseas back to some other country to one of those fashionable watering places or a parade of the latest fashions at the races but could this Carefree World last could the gold last [Music] for the time came when they said the reef was dead played out at first it had been so easy mining near the surface but to follow the gold further into the Earth that meant getting down to depths which had never been mined before it couldn't be done but remember the year 1903 in America fantasy wasn't the only thing which took flight they were reaching for the stars and anything seemed possible in this new technical age why not chase the gold further and further into the Earth and they did that was the spirit of the tens and twenties when the nation Builders and The Seekers after gold and fantasy joined hands and got a young country on the move the temple is quickening dreams become reality as the wheels of progress gather momentum and a hundred components of prosperity spring up alongside goal [Music] suddenly the depression worldwide wherever you looked in the 30s it was the same men were taken by surprise the fabric of prosperity was gone and the Spinners of dreams all over the world now wore the dark cloth of despair in South Africa years of Hope were shattered for here even the land conspired thank you at a time when the Earth had failed when money was meaningless when values were broken and realities disappeared only fantasy somehow stood firm the fantasy of gold [Music] [Music] [Applause] all right Catalyst which created a foundation of prosperity in a world of one hurtling South Africa onwards through the hard days that lay ahead and Beyond The Reef as the years went passing tapped at two thousand feet five thousand feet ten thousand feet 11 214 feet over two miles down the greatest depth in the history of world money [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] thousands of tons of Earth torn from the depths crushed sifted melted and refined to gold the golden elements of fantasy were taken to build a reality an economy which has established its Reliance on many cornerstones besides gold [Music] thank you [Music] they've gone those old days life is scattered into a hundred directions [Music] into new areas of Hope and personal endeavor [Music] [Music] all avenues of Human Experience crossed and clashed in a Fred moment of modern time and The Reef in the 70s 80s or 90s in the dreams that lie ahead step away softly to the Future take the dawn flight across the reef soar above the mountains of dust created by man's determination to make a reality of a dream weighing 200 miles across the known stretch of the world's Mightiest gold field developed and built by South Africans pass over the cities which have sprung up in a mere 80 years and over the tent and Tin Shanty nowhere which they had called Johannesburg Wing onwards cover all that South Africa has achieved underground and above in the thrust forward which made a vision of gold become a reality foreign foreign foreign