Kowie Museum

The Kowie Museum opened on December 15, 1982, as a result of work of dedicated volunteers. The Kowie Museum was at the Old telephone exchange for many years but relocated to the old Port Alfred Railway Station next to the SAPS charge office in October 2013. Dedicated desk helpers and a curator, overseen by the Board of Trustees, run the Kowie Museum. The current curator is Yvonne Surtees who took up the position on June 10, 2014. The Kowie Museum is a full member of the South African Museums Association (SAMA).

Origins of the Kowie Museum
Edward Morse Jones can rightly be called the founder of the Kowie Museum. The creation of a Kowie Museum at Port Alfred was first envisaged by Ted Morse Jones who included this objective as one of the aims of the Lower Albany Historical Society, when it was constituted in July 1958. From then on members of the Society set out to collect material for a Museum and in the late 1970s the Society formed the Kowie Museum sub-committee under the chairmanship of Iris Holloway. In October 1980 the Sub-committee set up a limited exhibition for a few days in the foyer of the Town Hall and in March 1981 followed this with a display at the Bathurst Agricultural Show. In July 1980 Glen Harvey, Chairman of the Society, negotiated with officials of the Posts and Telecommunications Department to make the existing Manual Telephone Exchange room at the Post Office available to the Society when the new Automatic Exchange was built. This happened in April 1982 and the Kowie Museum moved in and, on December 15 1982 was able to open its first display.
Kowie Museum. The Old Kowie Museum was situated in the old telephone exchange of Port Alfred. During the next six months negotiations between the sub-committee and the Society’s committee led to the drawing up of a constitution for the Kowie Museum, which came into independent existence in July 1983. It must be mentioned that the Kowie Museum might not have happened, were it not for the boundless energy of Don Monro, the first curator. Sadly, Ted Morse Jones did not see the fruits of his initiative: he died in 1969.

You can become a Friend of the Kowie Museum through your donation or by joining the Kowie Museum as an annual or life member.