Irene /aɪˈriːniː/ eye-ree-nee is a small village south of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.Prehistoric inhabitantsStone arrowheads and tools, discovered in the Hennops River bed and dating back many years prove that people have been living in the area for a very long time.Though they left no historical writings of their own, records from other sources in the early 19th century refer to the Bakwena tribe, also known as the Crocodile people, who lived in the area. When Mzilikazi (whose people became known as the Matabele) came to the area in 1825, they killed many of the Crocodile people and drove the rest away.European settlementIn the 1830s, a Boer Voortrekker named Daniel Elardus Erasmus left the Cape Colony and settled in the area near present-day Irene. Seeking economic and political independence in the hinterland, Erasmus built a farm that became known as Doornkloof. Doornkloof became known as the "kerkplaas" of the district. When Daniel died in 1875 he left the farm to his three sons.In 1889 a controlling interest (2/3) of Doornkloof was purchased by Alois Hugo Nellmapius, a businessman. Nellmapius had previously established a transport business between Lourenço Marques and Pilgrim's Rest, as well as several industrial concerns (a gin and whisky factory, South Africa's first gunpowder factory, and the Irene lime works).
