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Sunshine Stripper Harvester

Image: 'Early Sunshine Harvester', McKay Bros Patent, Sandhurst, circa 1886

Source: Museum Victoria

Frustrated by the slow and laborious nature of harvesting wheat, Hugh Victor McKay, at the age of 18, assembled a 'stripper harvester' on his father's property at Drummarton, Victoria, in early 1884. Having obtained Victorian patents over his harvester design in March and June 1885, McKay set about commericalising the design by commissioning McCalum, Garde & Co., of North Melbourne, to build five harvesters under contract that were sold to Victorian and New South Wales farmers for use in the 1885-86 harvest. While his design was not the first 'combine harvester' developed in Australia, through vigorous promotion and ongoing improvements the McKay harvester had, by 1900, became the most commercially successful Australian harvester design.

The popularity of the 'Sunshine' Stripper Harvester was able to secure McKay's place as one of the most successful agricultural implement makers in Australia. The harvester played an important role in establishing Australia as a leading cereal producing country, and was one of the first Australian manufactured products to be exported in large numbers. The H.V. McKay Company also manufactured an extensive range of other farming equipment and implements. By the 1920s it had become the largest manufacturing enterprise in the Southern Hemisphere, employing over 3000 workers.

References:
1. F.J. Kendall, H.V. McKay Pioneer Industrialist, Monograph No.2, Council of the Science Museum of Victoria, 21 Nov 1979.
2. John Lack, 'McKay, Hugh Victor (1865 - 1926)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol.10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 291-294.
3. Victorian Patent No.4006, 24 Mar 1885 (Hugh V. McKay & John McKay) 'Improvements in and connected with harvesting machines'.
4. Victorian Patent No.4095, 19 Jun 1885, Hugh V. McKay , 'Improvements in and connected with harvesting machines'.

Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 56 items

Site Plan - McKay, Factory Plan, 1904

Plan showing an overview of the H.V.McKay Sunshine Harvestor Works factory, dated 1904, at Sunshine, Melbourne, Victoria. The plan shows the flow of the creek through the property, all ...

From: Sunshine, Australia Images: 2
Photograph - McKay Smithy, Drummartin, Victoria, circa 1880s

Photograph of a Sunshine harvester outside the original wooden-slab blacksmith hut at the McKay family home at Drummartin, west of Elmore, Victoria, after 1884. The identity of the man ...

Images: 2
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Photograph - H.V. McKay, Stripper Harvester, circa 1906

Photograph of stripper harvester. It is part of a collection of photographs, moving film, artefacts, documents and trade literature relating to Massey Ferguson (Aust.) Ltd. The Australi ...

Images: 0
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Photograph - H.V. McKay, Stripper Harvester, circa 1910

Copy photograph of sign of a Sunshine Harvester. It is part of a collection of photographs, moving film, artefacts, documents and trade literature relating to Massey Ferguson (Aust.) L ...

Images: 0
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Photograph - Reaper, circa 1905

Photograph of horse drawn reaper. This image forms part of the H.V. McKay Old Archive, which includes personal correspondence, agreements, contracts, prospectus, company publications, p ...

Images: 0
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Photograph - Sunshine, HST Header, circa 1911

Photograph of HST Header. This image forms part of the H.V. McKay Old Archive, which includes personal correspondence, agreements, contracts, prospectus, company publications, photograp ...

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Letter - H.V. McKay to Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, 26 Feb 1911

Letter, with envelope, from H. V. McKay to Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister of Australia concerning the Agricultural Implement Makers Union strike in January 1911. This was the first union ...

Images: 4
Stripper Model - Joseph Nicholson, Carlton, Victoria, circa 1860

Adelaide prize winning, reaping and threshing machine. Manufactured by Joseph Nicholson, Carlton, Victoria, about 1860.

From: Carlton, Australia Images: 1
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Photograph - Manual Hay Making, circa 1870

Photograph of men and women making hay. Image is part of a collection of photographs, moving film, artefacts, documents and trade literature relating to Massey Ferguson (Aust.) Ltd, agr ...

Images: 0
No Image Available

Photograph - Manual hay making, circa 1890

Photograph of men making hay. Image is part of a collection of photographs, moving film, artefacts, documents and trade literature relating to Massey Ferguson (Aust.) Ltd, agricultural ...

Images: 0