Help us relocate a 5 tonne historical printing press to our Museum
Update
28 Aug 2023
It's arrived! Here is the 1939 Heidelberg Zylinder Automat press sitting on the floor of the Penrith Museum of Printing - all the 575km way from the Don Dorrigo Gazette newspaper. After some restoration work this marvel will be printing again.....first job will be the 'Thank you' certificates to all of you wonderful people who made the transport possible. We hope you will all come and see it and our other restored Letterpress and typesetting equipment. We made and surpassed our target of $5,000 in less than half the expected time and this has been of immeasurable benefit to the Museum and the preservation of the last Letterpress newspaper press and 'hot metal' typesetting operation in Australia. We'll keep you updated and thanks again!
Update
17 Aug 2023
WE MADE IT! On the day of uplifting the Heidelberg Zylinder Automat press from Dorrigo - the target of $5,000 raised for the freighting has been reached! All this in just 15 days when we thought it would take 8 weeks...incredible thanks to all the magnificent donors. Let's not forget it's a very emotional day for Mick English, the founding Vincent family and for citizens of Dorrigo in general. 113 years of publishing history serving the local community - 53 of those printing with this press. Rest assured it will be cherished and well looked after and always linked to the great name of the Don Dorrigo Gazette. It should arrive and be situated on Friday 18th August and will begin a new phase in its history following detailed restoration by the PMOP team of Letterpress magicians! Any surplus funds will go towards parts.
We'll keep the updates coming!
Update
14 Aug 2023
This innocuous-looking space at the Penrith Museum of Printing has been cleared for this week's arrival of the Don Dorrigo Gazette's Heidelberg Zylinder Automat press. The volunteers have been busy re-arranging the Museum to accommodate the exciting new addition. Uplift to truck is this Thursday 17th and we hope it will arrive on 18th! As for the mycause fundraising to cover the freight - we're almost there! An amazing weekend of donations from friends old and new, including a descendant of the Vincent family who started the Don Dorrigo Gazette in 1909! A huge thankyou to all 40+ supporters - it's an amazing achievement that we had planned to take until end of September to complete, and we're all but there already!
We will be posting pictures of the press uplift on Thursday and the arrival on Friday. After that the passionate pressmen at the Museum will be on the tools to strip the press down, add new rollers, clean & lubricate and replace any parts that look too worn. Updates will continue even though we will have raised the $5k - if there is any surplus it will go towards parts. This is a momentous occasion in Australian printing and will continue to educate, entertain and preserve culture for many years to come!
Update
11 Aug 2023
Holy Mountain!* We are nearly there! Our target of $5,000 to cover the decommissioning, freight and recommissioning of the 1939 Heidelberg Zylinder Automat press is today at $3,435 - an astonishing result in just 9 days. The photo above shows the serial number 748 (stamped twice because lower and upper chassis castings are separate and were matched up perfectly.)
* We say 'Holy Mountain' because the name for the town of Heidelberg means exactly that (Heiligeberg). The 439metre hill overlooking the town has been a sacred place to Celts, Pagans and Christians for possibly 7,000 years. The remains of 'Heidelberg Man' - the last Neanderthalic precursor to Homo Sapiens - was found nearby. Fortifications, Castles and Temples have been built on top of 'Holy Mountain' for millennia.
General Patton used Heidelberg as his HQ during the US occupation of their part of Germany and even permitted Schnellpressefabrik Heidelberg to resume parts & press manufacturing before the official end of the war, as Hubert Sternberg and his company were clearly not a part of the National Socialist regime.
The Letterpress Cylinder press you have helped save was created under a holy mountain - how about that?
Update
08 Aug 2023
Another amazing couple of days! We are not only over halfway to the $5,000 target to cover the relocation costs of the Heidelberg Zylinder Automat press, but you have smashed right through it and we are nearly at $3,000!
Sincere thanks again and again to all contributors. Another update - we have the serial number of the press - as in the above photo - it's 748 (see photo) which has been verified by 2 sources as immediately before the start of WW2. Our good friend and Heidelberg expert Nick Howard in Canada has verified the years:
1938- 1942 (pause of manufacture: #159 to 1659
1950- 1954 (resumption of manufacture): #1660 to 4300
So Zylinder Automat #748 sits nicely in 1939 and this has also been confirmed by a Heidelberg technician, who noted it would have been completed 3 weeks before the war's declaration. Also, the electrics cabinet at the front was a completely different shape post-war as the original supply factory in Dresden had been destroyed.
Only 9 more sleeps until pick-up!
Update
05 Aug 2023
It's incredible that over AUD$1,000 has been donated in just 2 days! Sincere thanks to very one of you who appreciate the importance of this historical printing press for the working Museum. The image above is how a new 1939 Heidelberg Zylinder Automat would have looked. We hope our wonderful volunteer restorers can get close to this! The first job of course will be to print the Certificates of Appreciation for the kind help you have made for the transportation and recommissioning of this important part of Australia's regional newspaper history.
Update
03 Aug 2023
Fantastic start and sincere thanks to all the people who have donated on the first day of the mycause fundraising campaign! The map shows the route the Heidelberg Cylinder press will take from Dorrigo to Sydney (Penrith) following pick-up on August 18th. 5 tonnes of printing history headed for our working museum - soon you will be able to visit and see the fruits of your generosity and kindness!
DONATIONS52
A Vee
Thu, 17 Aug 2023
$ 35
What a beautiful piece to add to the museum!
What a beautiful piece to add to the museum!
$ 35
Geoffrey Dean The Milldean Press
Tue, 15 Aug 2023
$ 50
Good luck with the move!
Good luck with the move!
$ 50