MUSEUM CROWDFUNDING PRESS RELOCATION

The Penrith Museum of Printing is aiming to raise $5000 through crowdfunding to move a rare Heidelberg press, from what was the last letterpress newspaper shop in Australia, down to the Museum.

The 1939 Heidelberg Zylinder Automan had been used to print the Don Dorrigo Gazette for the past half century, before the publisher Michael English had to close operations last month.

The Museum has now launched a mycause campaign to raise $5000 by the end of next month, with the funds to help pay for the decommissioning, relocation over 575km, and restoration. Click here to donate.

Everyone who contributes will receive a letterpress-printed certificate of gratitude once the Heidelberg Zylinder Automan is in and working.

Industry identity Andy McCourt said, “This press has an amazing history, which I am still researching. Any publicity for the crowdfunding campaign to raise $5,000 will help the Museum enormously. This is what it will cost to decommission, freight the 5 tonne press and relocate inside the Museum, where it will be lovingly restored.”

According to McCourt, the late John English, Michael English's father, bought the press from a dealer in 1970, but it actually arrived in Australia in 1954, with Seligson & Clare installing it in South Australia.

Penrith Museum of Print is run entirely by volunteers, and is a not for profit regularly running courses and site tours at this working museum to highlight print’s past, and its current opportunities.

Every donation, no matter how small or large, will receive a craft-printed certificate of appreciation - printed on the Heidelberg Zylinder Automat once it is up and running again.