Printing Museum in Pilgrim's Rest, Mpumalanga

The Printing Museum is situated in Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

In 1874, stockbrokers, investors and the Government were very interested in news surrounding the expanding goldfields of Pilgrim’s Rest. This lead to start of a newspaper office and “The Gold News” became the first publication in the area, reporting all the news about the gold mines. It was later known as the Goldfields Mercury in 1910.

The Museum is a tribute to the printing industry in Pilgrim’s Rest and it explores the history of printing of the Pilgrim and Sabie News as well as the press of Pilgrim’s Rest goldfields from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s.

The museum can be found in Uptown Pilgrim’s, along Main Street, and is across from the Central Garage Transport Museum. On display is some of the old equipment that was used to hand-print news at the time.

Things to do and see

• Collection of old publications
• Historical front pages
• Old hand printing press equipment
• Central Garage Transport Museum

Admission

A small admission fee of approximately R12 is charged. Please contact the information office directly to confirm prices.

Climate

Rainfall occurs mainly in the mid-summer months, with December and January seeing the highest levels. 

Summer months, November to March will have average temperatures of between 14˚C and 24˚C.

Winter months, May to August will have average temperatures of between 4˚C and 19˚C.

Transport

There are daily flights from Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town into the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport in Mombela (Nelspruit). Car rental companies are available for easy access to the surrounding areas with Pilgrim’s Rest being just over an hour away along the R537. Road trips from Johannesburg to Pilgrim’s Rest via the N12 will take about 4 hours.