Gillitts Station KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Gillitts Park is situated on what was know as the Emberton farm and the Dovehouse farm. The farm was owned by William Gillitts in the 1900’s, one of the main pioneer families of the area and after which the suburb of Gillitts is named. William Gillitts was born in 1839, in Buckinghamshire, England. William married Elizabeth Catherine Helena Gillitts (born Field) in 1866, at age 27. Elizabeth was born on February 22, 1851, in Richmond, Kloof, Natal, South Africa. They had 9 children: Elizabeth Catherine Helena McDonald (born Gillitts), William Swan Gillitts and 7 others. William Gillitts passed away in 1899, at age 60.
The original train line from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, built in the late 1800’s, winds through the residential areas and is the oldest working railway track in the country.
This train line is no longer in regular use, and is only used by the Umgeni Steam Railway, who runs a tourist service from Kloof Train Station to Inchanga Station on the last Sunday of every month. Dating back to the Boer War in the first decade of the 20th century, the train station was a stop for British soldiers transiting from Durban through to the Midland battlefields as well as returning wounded soldiers.
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