MISSION FROM MELBOURNE

Our Museum receives many interesting visits but this story is about a special visitor from Melbourne. His name is Paul Lynch, aged 85 and lives south of the border. He has donated some printing pieces previously but he thought this time I want to visit the Penrith Museum of Printing. He rang us and asked what day he could visit and bring a few objects to donate. We settled on a date and he started to get himself organised. With a backpack filled with his travelling gear and a suitcase on wheels for the museum stuff he started his journey.

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A full day on the train to arrive in Sydney, staying overnight and then another train out to Penrith he arrived mid morning.

We could not believe this elderly gentleman carried the weight he did when he opened his case and presented the contents to us. The picture does not do the fonts and lino matrixes justice. They were all in perfect condition.

As well he had a large plastic bag full of literature and certificates he had acquired throughout his career.He was fascinated with the whole Museum and said the trip was well worth the effort. We were extremely grateful that he decided to donate this fantastic material to us.

The visit lasted a couple of hours before he had to depart to head back to Melbourne.

A very knowledgeable man in the Letterpress printing industry and a lovely visitor to boot.

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We put him back on a train to Sydney to wait for his connection.

Thanks to Paul his donation is already being displayed and shown by members to the public.

Our expected move from our current site has suddenly turned into a real possibility in less than a year.  With the announcement that the NSW Government is looking at acquiring The Paceway, which is where the Museum has been situated since 2001. The Paceway has been very supportive of us over this time with rent free assistance and clearly this is the main reason we have survived for nearly 22 years, along with our valued sponsor, visitors and tour groups.

Today we are urgently seeking a new opportunity.  If we find the need to seek a grant to build elsewhere, this comes with a time factor, whereby we would have to close down and store equipment while a build takes place and the question is where?  During this time a main concern is in losing our dedicated team of volunteers with their invaluable knowledge, who may find other interests.

We are the only Printing Museum with working equipment in Australia dated back to the 1840's.  Our strength is that we are not a static display but an operational display.

We must save this Museum, the Educational and Historical benefits we hold need to be kept alive for the future generations.

We all need to help to save our Print History!