Burnside
Former town-council land that was once part of the Matsheumhlope farms; the name refers to the river.
Burnside’s name is a Scottish one. A burn is a stream, so Burnside is “beside the stream.” Here the stream is the Matsheumhlope, the river of white stones.
What else we know
The area was part of the old town-council land and, before that, of the Matsheumhlope Farms. Wikipedia’s version adds the explanation of burn. Several of the city’s southern suburbs took their names from Scotland and England in the same way. The Herald describes them as places generally named after British towns or colonial officials.
What we don’t know yet
When was Burnside laid out, and who named it? If you grew up there, tell us about it.
Sources
- Bulawayo’s suburb names, A to M
- Bulawayo — Wikipedia, suburbs table, which reproduces much of the same wording
- ‘Suburbs, street names origin explained’, The Herald (Zimbabwe)
Do you know more about this? Corrections, photographs and your own account are all welcome, and a correction is published on the page with the date it was made. Send something in.