Penrith Print Museum mimics 1940s print house

Sydney’s Penrith Museum of Printing will be open for this weekend only, as part of the Penrith Show, following a year of renovations.

The live collection includes letterpress printing and hot-metal composing machinery dating back to 1867.

Stephanus Peters, managing director, Pegras, says “People should come check it out because it is a beautiful museum. It is the only working printing museum in Australia, possibly in the Southern Hemisphere.

“All the machines work, all the older equipment. What we are trying to do is put in a 1940s printing house together, so we have hand set composing, a letterpress. Then we have pieces from the 1800s.

“It is a chance for us to teach people, mainly artists, the old trade of printing. Composing, printing, everything together with a letterpress.

“Most of our members would say the linotypes are the most interesting, but I appreciate the Heidelberg as I’m a Heidelberg printer. I think the whole process is very interesting. A 1940s printing house is something you don’t see every day.”

The equipment includes an 1880s Wharfedale – made by W Dawson (of Dawson, Payne & Elliott fame) in Otley, UK – a US-made Model 8 Linotype linecaster and a Chandler & Price guillotine from the Nepean Times were the starting point. Other equipment on live show includes a Model 5 Linotype, a Chandler & Price treadle platen, a Ludlow headline caster, Vandercook proofing machine, Vertical Miehle letterpress, a Heidelberg platen and a Cundall folder.

A large proportion of the machinery and equipment on display originally started its working life in the Nepean Times Newspaper in Penrith, NSW Australia.

Moved by the closure of the local Nepean Times, and urged by his daughter, the former linotype operator bought the letterpress plant and started looking for somewhere to put it on show. Then when he was despairing of finding anywhere, the Penrith & District AH&I (who run Penrith Paceway) came to the rescue.

The Penrith Museum of Printing was officially opened in 2001 by Jackie Kelly, MP for Lindsay, the then Minister for Sport and Tourism.

The museum is managed and operated fully by volunteers and is a Not-for-Profit Incorporated Association, with the mission to showcase letterpress printing equipment and techniques for present and future generations.

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