Mariannhill
Mariannhill is a cluster of suburbs and townships in eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
In 1882, Trappist missionary Fr Franz Pfanner established Mariannhill Monastery 16 km west of Durban. Fr. Pfanner promoted local development opening schools, health clinics, craft workshops, printing presses and farms providing work for hundreds of religious workers and others. The name is derived from those of the Virgin Mary and her mother Saint Anne.
Due to its location being close to industrial townships of Pinetown and Durban, Mariannhill has attracted people from around the province of KwaZulu Natal who are seeking employment. This has led to the development and growth of several townships in Mariannhill, i.e. Mpola, Thornwood, Dassenhoek, Tshelimnyama, Mariannridge, KwaMamdekazi, St Wendolins, etc.
In 1909 the St. Francis College was founded in Mariannhill, combining a boys' school and a girls' school that had operated since the mid/late 1880s. One of its prominent faculty was the Zulu writer and poet Benedict Wallet Vilakazi.
