Vorna Valley

Vorna Valley is a suburb of Midrand, South Africa. It is located in Region A of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

Vorna Valley
Vorna Valley Show map of Gauteng Vorna Valley Show map of South Africa
Coordinates: 25.99833°S 28.10722°E / -25.99833; 28.10722
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Main Place	Midrand
Government
• Councillor	Annette Deppe
Area [1]
• Total	3.44 km2 (1.33 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	12,446
• Density	3,600/km2 (9,400/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	53.4%
• Coloured	4.2%
• Indian/Asian	25.0%
• White	16.3%
• Other	1.1%
First languages (2011) [1]
• English	54.8%
• Zulu	9.3%
• Afrikaans	5.4%
• Tswana	5.0%
• Other	25.5%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	1686
PO box	1686

History

Vorna Valley derives its name from the Galaun family's home village of Varniai (Vornia), Lithuania. Jacob and Michle, father and mother of brothers Joseph, Israel, Louis, Harry, Abe, and sisters Leah, Malka and Tzira, lived in Lithuania. Jacob owned a butchery and leased a piece of land on which they kept cattle. Michle came from a cheese-making family. The Galaun family sold cheese as well as milk to supplement their income from their butchery.

Many Jewish youths from Lithuania emigrated due to the military conscription, poverty and anti-semitism. Harry Galaun moved to South Africa where he established himself as an established property developer and owned a bottle store and land known as Halfway House. Harry eventually established the township of Vorna Valley in the 1970s.

The main arterial road was named after Harry Galaun while other streets in the suburb were named after mainly South African artists, poets, writers, performers and influential people in the world of arts at that time.^[2]

References

1. "Sub Place Vorna Valley". Census 2011.
2. Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft (23 September 2003). "Memorial Service for the late Abe Galaun - 2003". African Jewish Congress. Retrieved 5 February 2014.