Iringa History

Darlene Parker is a Canadian living in Iringa who has been researching the history of Iringa.  She has developed a nice walking tour pointing out many old German and British buildings from the colonial era.  You can see some of the information and photos she has gathered on the Iringa Walking Tour Facebook page.

The tour starts in the Commonwealth War Cemetery  which has 131 graves from WWI and one from WWII.  There are soldiers from British South Africa units and even 16 German graves, three of which were German Navy who ended up in Iringa after their ship, the Konigsberg was sunk on the coast in 1915.

Commonwealth War Cemetery

James McIntyre Fairweather from Scotland with the South African Motorcycle Corps.  My fathers name was James McIntyre

South African Rifles unit with the Springbok emblem, Springboks is now the name of the S.A. National Rugby Team.

The tour continues looking at old German buildings including this one which was a hospital during German occupation before WWI and became an administration building under the British.  This building is being restored and will be opened as an Iringa history museum later this month.  Darlene has other old photos for buildings that are still in Iringa including the main market building.

German Hospital Building

German Gun

The clock tower in a round about on the main road in Iringa has the torch of freedom on top which I had never noticed.  The torch was the symbol of independence in 1961.  Called the Uhuru Torch, it was first lit on top of Mt Kilimanjaro in 1961.

Clock Tower with Torch of Freedom

There were many more buildings on the tour including the Retco bus station which was the Regional Transportation Company descended from the East Africa Railway company which connected trains, buses and ferrys.

The photo below is a gentleman I met at the church in Kalengapasi who belongs on the history page.  I do not know his age (he might not either) but he was conscripted by the British in 1939 and taken to North Africa to fight in WWII.  He served there for 8 years.  There is a monument in the central park in Iringa with names of the Iringa casualties from WWII, all conscripted like this gentleman.