When Johannesburg was proclaimed in 1886 on the triangular site Randjeslaagte the area of the town was nine square km. Randjeslaagte was a piece of ‘uitvalgrond’ – land left over from the farms surveyed around it, which was not considered suitable for farming. The beacon marks the apex of the triangle with its base running along Commissioner Street, from End Street in the East to Ntembi Pilisio Street in the West. This nine square km. remained the municipal area of Johannesburg until 1901. The original surveyor’s beacon was a white pole fixed in a cairn of rock and concrete. It was declared a national monument in 1965 and the cairn smoothed with cement.