The Museum depicts the history of settlers dating back to 1850. The museum is inclusive of Indian, Coloured and British settlers as well as the amaBhaca.
The Museum is housed in what was the Presbyterian Manse. Built in 1882, the outer walls are of local shale which made ideal building material. It was in 1981 that the Manse was acquired by the Richmond Town Board for use as a museum.
The finest shale building in Richmond is St. Mary’s Anglican church, the oldest consecrated Anglican church in Natal. To the south of the town many fine examples of shale farm buildings and homesteads can still be found, including those on the farms, Byrneside, Hilltop, Little Harmony, Mona Glen, Marion and Ward Hill, which are divisions of the original trekker farms Wondergeluk and Paardekraal.
As you browse through the collection the triumphs of the British immigrants will be seen in their establishing the first girls’ boarding school in Natal; supplying the earliest weather statistics given to the Natal Witness and starting the first lawn tennis club in South Africa. Their prowess in other sports, building construction, industry, handiwork and farming will come to life. You will also learn about the work done at Ndaleni and gain insights into aspects of Zulu history and Indian culture.
In 1962 a group of people in Byrne started collecting information and artifacts relating to the British Settlers of the valley. Their wish was to establish a museum at Byrne. This was not realised, and in 1975 the collection was displayed in Macrorie House Museum, Pietermaritzburg. In 1983 with a substantial grant from the Natal Provincial Administration and the support of the Richmond Town Board, Richmond, Byrne and District Museum came into being and the Byrne Collection was expanded to represent the whole community.
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