Hout Bay Museum Map

Hout Bay Museum History

Hout Bay Museum is a Province-aided Satellite museum of the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.

How it all started
Jimmy Steele, a retired official of the Museum’s Section, Department of Nature Conservation, had nurtured for many years the dream of founding a museum in Hout Bay.

In 1975, a Cultural Arts Festival was held in the Bay. Apart from exhibitions by local craftsmen and musical and drama productions, displays on the history of Hout Bay were presented, depicting the Khoi-Khoi, early Hout Bay inhabitants and the shipwrecks along our coast. This festival proved that Hout Bay had a fascinating history and it was important that a permanent home be found where all this information and artefacts belonging to our past could be preserved for the future.

Jimmy Steele was Chairman of the Festival Committee and, at the Report Back Meeting at the end of the Festival, it was proposed that he go ahead with negotiations to found a museum. With the backing of the Ratepayers’ Association, he approached the Divisional Council of the Cape. On 5 April 1979, the museum was officially opened and now has displays on the history of Hout Bay, the valley and its people, focusing on forestry, mining, tourism and the fishing industry up to modern times.

In 2019 the Museum entered into a co-operative agreement with the Denis Goldberg Foundation Trust to build an art gallery and promote the education of the youth of Hout Bay. The functional, yet aesthetically-pleasing building, is now complete and is an attractive addition to our Museum precinct. The curator can be contacted at 082 579 6697

The Outdoor Education Centre
The Outdoor Education Centre provides informal and informative Educational Programmes. The Outdoor Education Centre (OEC) was established in 1984. It accommodates School visits on different curriculum-aligned programmes. It has grown and improved considerably and brings life and interest into the Museum. It provides funds necessary to support the continuous running costs of the Museum and gives a practical experience of a rural fishing village and the surrounding environment.

The Outdoor Education Programmes consists of 5 hands-on 3 hour programmes:

Donated Organ on display in the museum

Graffiti on rocks done by the workers who built Chapman’s Peak (1922)

Display of the indigenous trees of Hout Bay