HISTORICAL EVENTS AT THE TIME THE 2 SHILLING WAS IN USE 

In 1940 London asked Pretoria to provide hospitals for Imperial troops stationed in the Middle East. South Africa agreed to build one such hospital on the road between Johannesburg and Potchefstroom. The exact place was to be at the 8th milestone near the old Wayside Inn, owned by a Cornishman called John Albert Baragwanath. Construction started in November 1941 and within 6 months the first soldiers could be admitted in May 1942. Britain paid £328,000 pounds for the 1,544-bed hospital. The facility was called the Imperial Military Hospital, Baragwanath. Towards the end of the war more and more tuberculosis patients were treated, some also coming from Burma. Those who died were buried at the new Westpark Cemetery near Emmarentia. King George VI visited the facility on 5 April 1947 and presented medals to some of the troops who were still patients there. Later, the Transvaal Provincial Administration
bought the hospital for £1 million.