Huddled just within the gates of Penrith Paceway off Ransley Street is the Penrith Museum of Printing – a time capsule for the world of print media and a reminder that ‘wood and lead ain’t dead’.
Within what looks like a large garden shed, I was met by dedicated volunteers Bob and John for my tour of the working museum, which was set up as a 1940s print shop.
Every wall was lined with equipment from before my time. The wooden, steel and metal machinery was lit by a skylight in the centre of the ceiling and emanated the nostalgic scent of a well-loved book – ageing wood and old paper.
My tour guides were chipper fellows with backgrounds in the printing industry. John started at the Gazette at Windsor in 1965 as a hand and machine compositor, and Bob started at Cumberland Newspapers.
“I was at the Gazette until Rural Press bought us out in 1983, and then we poached Bob from Cumberland Newspapers as a production manager,” John reminisced.
“From there, we built that factory up at North Richmond on the hill – which is still there – and we worked there for the rest of our careers.”
The pair of volunteers weren’t what I expected. They were cheeky, entertaining, knowledgeable, and addictingly passionate about the living museum. At no point during the tour did I find myself feeling bored – partly because the printing presses were so fascinating and I could interact with them, and partly because Bob and John’s enthusiasm was utterly contagious.
The first stop on the tour was the foyer, which featured a hand-crafted copper mural of the birth of print. It showcased the invention of moveable type around 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg – the father of printing.
The mural served as a reminder of the important role Gutenberg played in the printing revolution, and how vital the mass production of the written word was for civilization’s progression.
After taking that in, I was escorted over to the type cases. These large wooden cabinets featured thin drawers/trays, each filled with lead letters. It was here that I learned capital letters were traditionally kept in the upper case, and non-capital letters were traditionally kept in the lower case. Hence the terms uppercase and lowercase.
I also learned how to painstakingly use these fiddly lead letters to write my name. The process gave me a new appreciation for my computer and keyboard where I can tap out the name ‘Ally Hall’ in one second, compared to the two minutes I spent looking for the correct letters and the space bar in the type case.
The next stop was a replica of Gutenberg’s 1700s Common Press, which dominated the print media sphere for 300 years.
Standing tall next to the Common Press was the 1841 Columbian Letterpress. This green and gold machine was my favourite, and it’s been on quite a journey.
It was transported to Sydney from the UK on a ship, then transported across the Blue Mountains via a bullock cart to Carcour. It printed the Carcour Chronicle from 1872 to 1939 and laid rusting until it was restored by Fairfax in 1976.
Other equipment my tour guides demonstrated included the 1864 Albion Letterpress, the 1900s Linotype, the 1945 Intertype, the 1880s Wharfedale Stop Cylinder Press, and the 1936 Heidelberg Cylinder Letterpress.
These names would likely sound like nonsense to most readers – so I implore you to visit the museum and watch as volunteers demonstrate how the presses work and invite you to interact with them.
And if you like it, you can try your hand at volunteering!
“We’re always looking for volunteers,” Bob started.
“Young volunteers would be good, because we’re going to get to the stage where we’re too old. If we want to keep this place going – which we do – we need younger people coming through,” John continued.
“The idea is to preserve the history and preserve this as a living museum. We don’t want it to turn into a static display,” Bob picked back up.
“If the Powerhouse got a hold of it, they’d stick it all in a basement and never see it work again. So, we’re after young enthusiastic volunteers to help preserve the past for the future.”
“That’s our motto – we preserve the past for the future,” John concluded.
Visit https://www.printingmuseum.org.au.
Ally Hall
Ally Hall joined the Weekender in 2024, and focuses on entertainment and community stories. She's a graduate of the University of South Australia and has previously worked as a Video Journalist with Southern Cross Austereo and as a News Reader with Australian Radio Network.