Stripper Harvester Model - H.V. McKay, 'Sunshine' Harvester, Ballarat, Victoria, 1899

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On display

This item is on display at Melbourne Museum

Where is it from?

A Modelmaker Ballarat, Australia
A Place & Date Used Ballarat, Australia
B Place & Date Used Sunshine, Australia

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Stripper Harvester Model - H.V. McKay, Ballarat, 1899

Summary:: Scale model of the 'Sunshine' stripper harvester, designed by Hugh Victor McKay. This early form of combine harvester was one of the first machines commerically available capable of stripping, threshing, winnowing, screening, and bagging grain crops such as wheat or oats. The model was made at the H. V. McKay Sunshine Harvester Works, Ballarat, 1899. Approximately one-fifth scale working model.

In 1912 Hugh V. McKay took the 1899 model to Russia to pursue the "splendid prospects" offered by exporting his products to the cereal growing areas of Russia.

Part of the H.V. McKay Sunshine Collection. which includes an extensive collection of business records and private papers relating the H.V. McKay and his enterprise.
The model was donated to the Science Museum of Victoria just prior to the merger of H.V. McKay Pty Ltd with the Canadian firm Massey Harris Pty Ltd in 1930.
Description:: Some details of model differ from the full size machine. Note the bagging arrangements, and chain drives.
Acquisition Information:: Donation from H.V. McKay Pty Ltd, 1930

Discipline:	Technology
Dimensions:	86 cm (Height), 109 cm (Width), 72 cm (Length)

More information

Tagged with:	agriculture, exports, harvesting equipment, industrial design, innovations, stripper harvesters, sunshine, australian innovations
Themes this item is part of:	Hugh V. McKay, Agricultural Implement & Machinery Manufacturer, Ballarat & Sunshine, Victoria, H.V. McKay Sunshine Collection, Sunshine Stripper Harvester, H.V. McKay Massey Harris Pty Ltd, Agricultural Equipment Manufacturers & Importers, Sunshine, Victoria, Sustainable Futures Collection, The Sunshine Harvester Works, Sunshine, Victoria, Australia, McKay's Brandnames, Origin of the 'Sunshine' Brandname
On Display at:	Melbourne Museum
Primary Classification:	AGRICULTURE & RURAL LIFE
Secondary Classification:	Crop Management - Harvesting
Tertiary Classification:	stripper harvesters
Modelmaker:	H.V. McKay, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 1899
Place & Date Used:	H.V. McKay, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 1899-1906
Place & Date Used:	H.V. McKay Pty Ltd, Sunshine, Victoria, Australia, 1906-1930
References:	Museum Victoria, Sunshine Harvester website: http://museumvictoria.com.au/sunshine/ Australian Dictionary of Biography Online - McKay, Hugh Victor (1865 - 1926): http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100286b.htm
Bibliography:	[Chapter] Dale-Hallett, Liza, et al. 'The McKay Collection', in Rasmussen, Carolyn. A Museum for the People: A History of Museum Victoria. p.271-273., 2001 [Article] 2003. "Resurrecting the Sunshine Harvester Works: Re-presenting and Reinterpreting the Experience of Industrial Work in Twentieth-Century Australia", Labour History., 2003 [Article] Dale-Hallett, Liza. 2004. "Collecting by Stealth: the HV McKay Collection", Museum Victoria Magazine., 2004 [Book], Mr Warren Perry, The Science Museum of Victoria - a history of its first hundred years, Science Museum of Victoria (SMV), Melbourne, 1972, 1972