The best introduction to Oudtshoorn's extraordinary history as the ostrich feather capital of the world. The museum occupies a 1906 building that was itself a product of the boom years, and its collection covers every aspect of the feather trade — from the social history of the Little Karoo Afrikaner community to the mechanics of Victorian London's fashion industry that drove the demand.
Exhibits include original Victorian and Edwardian feather fashions, photographs of the boom era, and a synagogue reconstruction that reflects the role of Jewish traders in the feather economy. There are also sections on the San rock art found in the surrounding mountains and on the natural history of the Karoo. It is a genuinely good provincial museum — small but well-curated.