Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Voortrekker Monument Model Johannesburg, Gauteng Gerard Leendert Pieter MOERDYK: Architect LUPINI BROTHERS : Contractor

Date: 1938 : 1955 : 1960 Type: Monument Status: Extant

In the grounds of the Helpmekaar High School. This small scale pre-cast concrete model of the Voortrekker Monument was designed by Gerhard Moerdijk and modelled and built by the specialist precast concrete firm of Lupini Brothers, at a cost of £600. It was made in what is known as the lost mould “forma persa” method i.e a terra cotta clay model was ‘modelled' by hand to scale, in this case by Luigi ‘Gigi’ Lupini, following the architect’s drawings. Due to the required size of the model it was broken down into various component parts. The various parts of the clay model were then each completely covered in a soft slurry of plaster of Paris. When it had hardened the clay was washed out and the various plaster of Paris moulds would then be filled with a cement and aggregate slurry. When the concrete had set the plaster of Paris moulds were each chipped off to reveal the component concrete parts of the small scale Voortrekker Monument. The various component parts were then transported to site and carefully assembled by the Lupini’s on a concrete surface bed. The foundation stone of the model Voortrekker monument was unveiled 3 December 1938. The monument itself was unveiled by the Afrikaans poet Totius (Jacob Daniël du Toit) on 19 August 1939. In 1948 miscreants demolished the wagons around the structure and cut holes in some of the window openings. In 1955 the model had to be dismantled and was placed in storage, to make way for an extension to the school. It was however reassembled and rededicated on 16 September 1960. Original text provided by Italo Lupini in 2013, with further editing and additions by William Martinson in 2025.