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Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum

The Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum preserves and presents South African agricultural history in a unique manner. The Museum showcases the history of the development of agriculture in South Africa from the Stone Age until 1945.

The Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum is located on the farm Kaalfontein. It can be reached using the old Pretoria-Bronkhorstspruit Road (R104), off the N4 on the Cullinan/Rayton (R515) turnoff. The farm belonged to Ms Miertjie le Roux (née Prinsloo) and three generations of Prinsloo ancestors.

Miertjies’s great grandfather Willem Prinsloo (nicknamed Willem Wragtag) was a big game hunter and bartered skins, ivory and horns for the farm Modderfontein on the Witwatersrand. Gold was discovered later at Modderfontein, and he sold the farm to a mining company. With the money, he purchased various Bushveld and Highveld farms, including the farm Elandsfontein, which his daughter later inherited. After the discovery of diamonds on Elandsfontein, the farm got sold to Thomas Cullinan, who founded the Premier Diamond Mining Company (1902).

Willem Wragtag also bought the farm Kaalfontein in 1889 but never lived there. His son Lang Willem Prinsloo, and his family, lived on Kaalfontein.

Miertjie le Roux inherited the farm Kaalfontein and lived in the 1880 dwelling on the old farmyard until 1976. When Miertjie’s brother died in 1976, she donated 16 hectares of the farm, including the 1880 dwelling and outbuildings, to the National Cultural History and Open-air Museum.

A few years later, the National Cultural History and Open-air Museum purchased a portion of the adjacent farm on which the 1913 and 1927 homesteads are.

The development of the Museum started in 1976 with the construction of the main building and storage areas. The Museum officially opened on 29 March 1980.

FESTIVALS

2022

  • 7 February – Turksvy Festival.
  • 11-12 March – Dexter Cattle Show and Auction.
  • 4 June – Mampoer Festival. The Museum distills its own mampoer. The copper still, for which a legal license was obtained in 1983 for the distilling of witblits and mampoer, is still in use today. The annual Mampoer Festival takes place on the first Saturday of June. 
  • 6-8 October – National Tractor/Farm Festival – The annual tractor and farm festival presented in partnership with the Tractor Club attracts historical engine and tractor enthusiasts. Demonstrations of various tractors and engines and historical farming activities such as ploughing, threshing, bread baking and selling traditional pap and kaiings are some of the event’s highlights. The event includes a mountain bike race on 9 October and Movies Under the Stars.
  • 9 October – Rayton Classic Bike Race
EXHIBITIONS

Indoor exhibition area – exhibitions include a formal display on the history of the development of agriculture in South Africa and exhibits of vehicles of yesteryear such as donkey and horse carts, carriages, coaches and spider carriages. Various old agricultural implements will bring back pleasant memories to many visitors.

OLD FARMYARD

Visitors can explore the 1880 and 1913 dwellings, outbuildings and three reconstructed Ndebele homesteads from various eras. The historic farmyard also has a variety of domesticated farm animals such as Colebrook pigs, Painted Persian sheep, Afrikaner cattle and indigenous chickens.

EDUCATIONAL AND PUBLIC PROGRAMMES

Visitors are offered unique public and curriculum-based educational programmes. Guided tours are presented to school groups (of all ages) and adult groups.

 

Demonstrations are hands-on and include:

 

Milking a cow

Plucking a goose

Making tallow candles

Making clay oxen

Baking bread in an outdoor oven

Roosterkoek

Fun rides

 

Prior bookings are essential.

PHOTOGRAPHY TARIFFS

Per hour R550 per photographer (Other)
Per hour R2000 for filming
Per hour R250 per student photographer (Student with Student card, matriculants)  
Per hour R500 per photographer in training (under the supervision of a professional photographer)
Daily package minimum of R16 000
 

Clients are advised not to leave valuables or electronic equipment unattended on the property, as the Museum cannot be held responsible for the loss thereof.

FACILITY RENTAL FEES

Auditorium

  • R700 per hour

Boardroom

  • R1000 per day (15 – 20 People)

Lappa

  • R150 per person per night

Lappa Kraal Hall

  • R1500 per day

Boma

  • R500 per day

Restaurant and Stoep

  • R1100 per day

Gerhard Schoeman Hall

  • R500 per hour 3-6hours
  • R600 per hour 6hours+

Stoep

  • R700 per day

Restaurant And Kitchen

  • R1200 per day

Restaurant, Stoep and Kitchen

  • R1900 per day

Camping Site

  • R300 for four people per night

 

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Prices for Adults, Children and Pensioners

Admission Fees

  • Adults
    • Own Tour
  • R 50
  • Children
    • Own Tour
    • R35.00 Guided tour
  • R 30
  • Pensioners
    • Guided Tour
  • R 30
  • Learners
    • Learner
    • R35.00 per learner/student (guided tour)
  • R 30
  • Educators
    • Free entry for educator/ group of 30 learners
  • R 40
  • International Tourist
    • Adult
  • R 100
  • International Tourist
    • Child
  • R 50
  • Special Guided Tours
    • Team
  • R 80
  • Special Guided Tours
    • Guided
  • R 50
  • Special Guided Tours
    • Child, guided tour
  • R 35
  • Special Guided Tours
    • Person, includes Bird Walk and light refreshments
  • R 150
  • GARDEN AND BRAAI AREA
    • Adult
  • R 50
  • GARDEN AND BRAAI AREA
    • Child
  • R 30
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Free Parking Available for All Visitors

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