August 2026

From Royal Rides to Victorian Remedies: Museum Day in Matjiesfontein

In our previous two posts, we introduced you to the small town of Matjiesfontein, and told you about our stay at the old Victorian Lord Milner Hotel (read here and here).

Today, we’re taking you on one last stroll through Matjiesfontein to show two very unique, yet beautiful museums.

Transport Museum:

The first museum we popped into is known as the Transport Museum. If you like vintage cars and old trains, be warned: You could wander around here for a really long time.

Entrance to the Transport Museum

The first sign that we were at a transport museum was the old fire and rescue truck parked in front of the museum. This vintage fire truck is a 1929 Ford Model AA, and it’s amazing to see how it has been maintained over the years. You’ll also see old fire and rescue uniforms hanging on the wall at the entrance.

Vintage fire and rescue truck and uniforms

The entrance hall isn’t very big, so you’ll understand if I call these vintage cars ‘cute’. When I stood next to a few of them, the roof was just below my shoulders (and I’m not very tall). I wonder how a tall and big man would fit comfortably in there – Berto would definitely have struggled!

The vintage bicycle (penny-farthing) with its large front wheel and small back wheel dates back to the 1870s and 1880s and looked a bit uncomfortable to ride (maybe even challenging). Imagine riding this bicycle down a really steep hill.

Small vintage cars and a penny-farthing

When you walk through the next door, it leads to a beautiful courtyard with green grass. The old trains are on the far side, while there’s a building with beautiful doors on your right. There are quite a few vintage cars here (I can’t remember the exact number, but it’s possibly around 15 cars). We had so much fun looking at each one and imagining how they drove down the main street in Matjiesfontein back in the day.

Courtyard at the Transport Museum

Collection of vintage cars

As I mentioned earlier, if you’re a vintage car enthusiast, you’ll enjoy this room with a collection of classic cars from the 1930s–1960s. Here you will find Chevys, Dodges, and also a Jaguar MK8. And then of course, there are the two Royal Daimlers that were used when King George VI and his daughters, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret toured South Africa in 1947.

Vintage cars

Will today’s parking bays be big enough for this car?

Big bumpers for big cars

Rolls Royce

Daimler – a car fitted for a king and queen

We ended our tour of the Transport Museum by walking over to the old trains. Here we found a steam train and carriages. The door to the inside of the train was locked, but we could peek through the window to see what it looked like.

Old steam train and carriages

Inside one of the carriages

Old trains

Let’s walk over to one of the largest private museums in South Africa, the Marie Rawdon Museum (named after David Rawdon’s mother).

Marie Rawdon Museum:

The Marie Rawdon Museum is located in the historic train station. There are so many historical memorabilia to see with a maze of small rooms and corners packed with countless items from years gone by. The highlight for us was definitely the complete Victorian Chemists shop. We spent well over an hour inside the two-story museum – truly fascinated by the displays.

It was no easy task to pick just a few photos for this post, but here goes …

Old scales

The antique keys of old typewriters

Sewing machine

Long hallway with rooms on either side full of antiques

Rooms from bygone years

War relics

My heart skipped a few beats when I peeked into one of the rooms down the long hallway and saw a woman in a long white gown. My first thought was: ‘Is this Lucy, Mary-Anne, Kate, or the Lady in White?’ (I haven’t forgotten about all those ghost stories that I heard at The Lord Milner Hotel.)

Oh … hello

More historic pieces

It was interesting to see what kind of entertainment people had in the earlier years. The vintage coin-operated arcade games were probably a lot of fun for young and old.

Coin-operated arcade games

Have you ever wondered what a menu looked like in 1924? Well, I can tell you: It looked quite interesting (especially with some of the dishes written in French). I had my reservations about the turtle soup as a starter, but I was quite impressed with the roast quarter of lamb with mint sauce and potatoes with steamed French beans as a main course. And pudding sounded equally good with petit-fours and Parmesan fritters.

Menu of 1924

It’s on the second floor of the museum where things really got interesting. The big display of cameras over the years was fascinating and if you grew up with a turntable in the house, seeing that and vinyl records might make you a little emotional. The dentist chair on the other hand, made me realise why I’m a bit squeamish about dentists (I would definitely have been a very scared patient in the early 1900s).

Camera display

Do you still remember the old turntable and vinyl records?

Dentist chair (and I wonder about those teeth next to the chair)

As I’ve mentioned earlier, the complete Victorian Chemists shop (or apothecary) was our favourite room. I could just imagine the pharmacist standing behind the counter, mixing liquids and tablets and handing them out to patients.

Complete Victorian Chemists shop

Anything here for hay fever?

As we went down the stairs again to leave the museum, I saw a photo of the Milner Hotel on the wall, taken in the early 1900s. (The name changed to Lord Milner Hotel when David Rawdon bought the town in 1968). On the balcony were two ladies dressed in lovely Victorian dresses and hats. This photo was probably taken with one of the old cameras we saw here in the museum. How times have changed, right?

Milner Hotel of Matjiesfontein in earlier years

I would say these two museums are some of the best we’ve ever visited.  We encourage you, if you don’t live too far from Matjiesfontein (or are passing by), to go and check it out. You won’t regret it.