A press, believed to be the only one of its type left in the world, will soon be off to a new home.
The Cossar press in the old Bush Telegraph building.
The Cossar Printing Press, once housed in the old Bush Telegraph building in Pahīatua had been in danger of being dismantled and scrapped when the building was sold to a new owner.
So former editor Steve Carle put the word out and a museum from the Netherlands came to its rescue.
Henk Roede, curator at the Grootegast Printing Museum says they had made several attempts within Europe to find a newspaper press for the museum.
“However, you can only find them here in museums and they, understandably, do not want to lose them.”
He says he did a search on Google and came across an article written by Steve a few years ago, but thought they might have been too late, given how long ago the article had been written.
They took a chance and contacted Steve, who assured them the Cossar, which once printed the Bush Telegraph, among other publications, was still intact and available.
Christiaan Ferdinandus is one of the engineers working on getting the press ready for transport.
Two technicians, Christiaan Ferdinandus and Corne Copier, were sent to New Zealand to prepare the press for transport.
The forklift driver positions the forks.
The second half of the partially dismantled Cossar press.
The press is partially dismantled so it can be taken out by forklift.
The press was to be taken to Palmerston North until shipping to the Netherlands could be arranged, but it may be some time before the press can be transported the more than 18,000 km to be installed in the museum.
Henk says the intention is to create a special place within the graphic museum around the history of the newspaper industry.
“We not only show this big press and some other machines but also want to tell the story of the impact on the history of the newspaper industry and the freedom of the press.
“Hopefully we will be able to get the machine working again so that we can print a newspaper ourselves.”
The most interesting part of the history of the Cossar press is that, according to an article on a website detailing the history of the machine, the first complete machine went to the Wanganui Chronicle.
Tom Cossar, who invented the press, was the son of the founder of John Cossar & Son, a printing firm that was started in the 1870s in Glasgow, Scotland.
Using engineering expertise, Thomas began experimenting on the family firm’s flat-bed press, converting it into a reel-fed press and the first patent on the Cossar press was taken out in 1899.
A Yorkshire firm invited Tom to supervise the building of the machines and in 1903, the first complete machine was shipped to New Zealand.
An article found in Papers Past, published in the Wanganui Chronicle in February 1904, notes the auspicious occasion.
