← 1872 1871 1870 1873 in South Africa → 1874 1875 1876
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during1873 in South Africa.

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope andHigh Commissioner for Southern Africa:Sir Henry Barkly.
• Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal:
  • Sir Anthony Musgrave (until 29 April).
  • Thomas Milles (acting from 30 April to 21 July).
  • Sir Benjamin Pine (from 22 July).
• State President of the Orange Free State:Jan Brand.^[1]
• State President of the South African Republic:Thomas François Burgers.^[2]
• Lieutenant-Governor ofGriqualand West:Sir Richard Southey (from 17 July).^[3]
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope:Sir John Molteno.

April

• 30 – Thomas Milles becomes actingLieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.

• 1 – The use ofDutch is officially allowed in theCape of Good Hope's parliament.
• 14 – TheOhrigstad area is proclaimed a public gold field after gold is discovered in theSelati River.

• 5 – New Rush in Griqualand West is renamedKimberley afterJohn Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley.^[4]
• 17 –Sir Richard Southey becomes the first Lieutenant-Governor ofGriqualand West.^[3]
• 22 –Sir Benjamin Pine becomes Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.

• 20 – Prime MinisterJohn Molteno authorises construction of the new Cape Eastern railway line fromEast London.

• 4 –HMS Challenger, on its worldwide marine research expedition, is officially welcomed inCape Town.
• 26 – HMSChallenger arrives atPrince Edward Islands and contacts survey and charts the islands^[5]

• TheUniversity of South Africa is founded in Cape Town as theUniversity of the Cape of Good Hope.
• The Cape Government establishes the first district boarding schools to educate children from rural areas while education is standardised at the Cape.^[6]
• The town ofEast London is officially established through the proclaimed merger of the three settlements ofPanmure,East London andEast London East.
• Warmbad is established as Hartingsburg at the hot springs north ofPretoria.

• 13 August –C.J. Langenhoven, playwright, poet, journalist, politician and author ofDie Stem van Suid-Afrika. (d. 1932)
• 20 August –William Henry Bell, musician, composer and first director of theSouth African College of Music. (d. 1946)

• 1 May –David Livingstone is found dead on his knees beside his bed atLake Bangweolo. (b. 1813)

• Namaqualand – Muishondfontein toKookfontein, 15 miles (24.1 kilometres).^[7]

• TwoCape gauge0-4-0saddle tank locomotives enter service at Port Elizabeth on the Midland System of theCape Government Railways. They are the firstCape gauge locomotives to enter service in South Africa.^{[8]: 117–118 [9][10]: 6}
• East London's first steam locomotive is landed at East London Harbour, a 7 ft1⁄4 in (2,140 mm)Brunel gauge 0-4-0vertical boiler engine acquired for work on breakwater construction.^[11]

• 1873 in South Africa
• 1873 by country
• Years in South Africa

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• Use dmy dates from April 2020
• Use South African English from October 2013
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