When Australia achieved their sole Test win in Bloemfontein the VW Beetle design was on the drawing board, the Great Depression gripped the USA and chocolate-chip cookies had just been invented.
The year was 1933 and the visitors from Down Under triumphed 15-4 in the central high-altitude city where they were vanquished by the Springboks on two subsequent visits.
On Saturday evening the Wallabies try again in the "city of roses" to rid themselves of the Highveld hoodoo when they confront South Africa in the penultimate game of a Tri-Nations championship already won by New Zealand.
"The Highveld bogey is something we have talked about a lot. We realise it has been a long time since Australia won there and we know it is a losing sequence we must break," confessed left wing Drew Mitchell. “We believe we can beat these guys. It is just a case of us needing to be more consistent through 80 minutes. The feeling is that we are very close to breaking the barrier."
It is 47 years since Australia celebrated a victory in a stamina-sapping 1,000-metre-plus central region that includes Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria, where they lost 31-44 in a bizarre nine-try contest last weekend.
Australia managed to fall despite scoring two tries within five minutes of the kick-off, twice leading by 14 points early on and forcing several line-outs deep in Bok territory when only six points adrift as time ticked away.
In stark contrast to many bruising battles between the nations, it seemed as if a pre-match non-aggression pact had been signed with one Johannesburg daily labelling the Test a "farce", a "sham" and "15-a-side sevens".
Not that the Springboks cared. Icons like captain and hooker John Smit, lock Victor Matfield and left wing Bryan Habana plus coach Peter de Villiers had been under so much media fire lately that they craved a win, however strange.
South Africa can clinch second place in the tri-nations by claiming a bonus-point victory and preventing Australia collecting any, although it will all seem a tad hollow given the manner in which the majestic All Blacks steamrolled to the title.
