Williston was origionally known as Amandelboom (literally "almond tree") due to the presence of a large Almond Tree planted in 1768 by Johan Abraham Nel to honour his son's birth. By the time a station was founded at the site by Rhenish Mission under Johann Heinrich Lutz in[ 1845 the tree had grown into a significant landmark in the dry and largely treeless area. A town grew around the station and it was declared a municipality in 1881. It was renamed in 1919 after Colonel Hampden Willis Colonial Secretary in 1883.
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