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Dunluce - McGregor Museum
Kimberley, Northern Cape
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Click to view map Coordinates: | Now part of the McGregor Museum. A member of the Diamond Syndicate, Gustav Bonus built himself a suitably ostentatious residence named Lillianville, with verandahs of woodwork and equally ornate wooden decoration on the gables. Within were ample reception rooms and all the amenities of a wealthy mining magnate. Designed in 1897 by the Kimberley architect D W GREATBATCH, this spectacular house was the background for much lavish entertainment prior to the time of siege. Nor far distant was the Sanatorium, used by RHODES as his headquarters during the siege. A 100 lb shell from Long Tom, aimed by the Boers at the Sanatorium, fell short, and instead landed through the roof of the house, damaging a bedroom and breakfast room below. This event was recorded in the Souvenir of the Siege of Kimberley, published by the Diamond Fields Advertiser. After the Anglo-Boer War, Bonus returned to England and his home was bought by John Orr in 1902. It was Orr who named the house Dunluce, after a ruined castle in Northern Ireland, the land of his birth. The Orr family continued to live at Dunluce until 1975, when the property was bought by Barlow Rand Ltd to be restored for the McGregor Museum. (Picton Seymour, 1989: 99) Books that reference Dunluce - McGregor Museum
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