Durban History MuseumDurban Local History Museums

KwaMuhle Museum

The museum occupies a former Native Administration Department headquarters at 130 Bram Fischer Road. Visitors enter through an elegant, arch-lined veranda and through a pair of sturdy, copper-clad entrance doors before stepping into a space that now invites reflection rather than control.

Engraving of a wide, tree-lined Smith Street in central Durban, 1891
Smith Street in central Durban, 1891.Cathcart William Methven, public domain. Source

About the museum

Rather than offering a single perspective, KwaMuhle encourages visitors to examine Durban's development, and its residents' experiences, from multiple viewpoints.

Exhibitions

  • The Durban System — explores the municipal monopoly over Zulu beer brewing and sales that funded segregated housing and influenced thousands of residents' lives.
  • Mkhumbane Gallery — SB Bourquin photographs documenting forced removals and township development. The story of these removals continues at the Cato Manor Heritage Centre.
  • Shadows of the Past — a Ledelle Moe sculpture commemorating migrant workers.
  • A 1998 community mural depicting workers' experiences under the Municipal Native Affairs Department.
  • A muti garden with indigenous plants such as Agapanthus and Wild Dagga.

Read more about the Durban System and the city's wider story on Our History.

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