Johannesburg museums that deserve your attention and a seat in mainstream conversations

Have you always been curious about the history and evolution of modes of transport? Whether your interest is the wheel or steam engines, the James Hall Museum of Transport will leave you both educated and mesmerised.

The museum takes guests back in time to 19th-century animal-drawn vehicles and steam engines from the Anglo-Boer War, retraces penny-farthings and vintage motorbikes and revisits Johannesburg’s 1960s double-decker buses.

Vintage offerings such as the Rolls-Royce and Clément-Panhard are also available for your pleasure, and you’ll even discover South Africa’s first locally designed electric car, Joule.

Entrance to the museum is free, but donations are welcome.

If you know South African history, you’ve certainly heard of the historic Rivonia Trial that resulted in the life imprisonment of struggle heroes Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Denis Goldberg. This is the farm where the police raid that led to their arrests was staged in July 1963.

Nelson Mandela also lived here under an assumed name in an attempt to evade the security forces, but he was arrested in KwaZulu-Natal a year earlier.

From voice recordings of Chief Albert Luthuli’s Nobel Prize acceptance in 1960 to handwritten letters by anti-apartheid activists and a Safari truck uMkhonto weSizwe used to smuggle military weapons and ammunition from Zambia, Liliesleaf really takes you back.

Tickets cost R120 per person and R50 for children, students and pensioners at Webtickets or on site.

In today’s digital era, there’s no better way to document Black resistance and pan-African history than an audio-visual archive.

Initially designed as a futuristic concept, the Library of Things We Forgot to Remember prides itself on its rare collection of 1970s and 1980s vinyl records that unpack liberation movements that took place across Southern African countries and the broader African diaspora.

Because of its immersive approach, the library encourages visitors to bring their own headsets so they can “lock in” on the music, radio broadcasts and speeches that detail these liberation movements.

Entrance is free for all members of the public, including children.

The Dynamite Factory officially opened in 1987 and will be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year. This is where you’ll get a deeper understanding of the 1880s Witwatersrand gold rush, which is known as the largest and most productive gold rush in human history.

In the Science room, you’ll discover how dynamite was invented and learn about the chemical processes used to ensure the safe manufacturing of this product. You’ll also be educated on mining gear, land surveying equipment, vintage journals, early maps and other aspects of machinery history, as well as the lived realities of the early mining community.

While entry is free, bookings are essential and can be made on +27 78 800 8679.

Hapo derives its name from a traditional Khoi proverb that translates to: “A dream is not a dream until it is a dream of the community.” Deeply rooted in indigenous knowledge systems instead of westernisation, the museum’s architecture comprises boulders and caves in remembrance of traditional Khoisan healers.

Using seven historical epochs including earth, ancestors, colonisation and industrialisation, Hapo’s exhibition takes guests on a chronological journey through a 3.6-billion-year narrative of African history.

Unlike a traditional exhibition with physical structures, however, this is an immersive experience of theatrical lighting, large-scale art installations and audio-visual technology.

Tickets are R80 for local adults, R55 for children, students and pensioners, while international visitors pay R160 on the Freedom Park Heritage Site website.

The South African Airways Museum Society seeks to preserve the legacy of South African Airways (SAA) and civil aviation history.

What makes this facility unique is that it is the only museum in the world where you can experience two static Boeing 747 aircraft.

Visitors have the absolute honour of stepping inside the iconic Boeing 747-200 that performed the low-altitude fly-past over Ellis Park Stadium at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final.

You get to explore the interior, cockpit and crew quarters, or even take a walk through the on-site research library holding over 1,000 books about aviation.

Tickets cost R60 for adults and R40 for children on site.

Did you know that the 1910 municipal compound built to control migrant workers is still standing tall in Newtown?

Forget the sanitised version of South African history that you get in the school curriculum. Here, you get the truth about the brutal realities of the painful history of this country’s migrant labourers.

This one is not for the faint-hearted because you relive these workers' experiences through the concrete bunkrooms inside the facility, and you even get to see first-hand the actual punishment cells. These are contrasted by the cottages built for white supervisors, which you will also see.

The original structures have been left largely untouched, and the museum has done a commendable job of retaining them in their most authentic state.

There is also vintage explosive-manufacturing equipment, technical scientific advancements and rust-coloured antique factory machinery to view.

Entry is completely free, but the museum welcomes donations.