The Australian operations of this company were originally founded by Hugh V. McKay in the 1890s. In 1906, H.V. McKay moved his manufacturing operations from Ballarat to Braybrook Junction (later Sunshine) on the western outskirts of Melbourne. In 1921 the company became H.V. McKay Pty Ltd.
In 1930 it merged with the Australian operations of the Canadian agricultural implement and tractor manufacturer Massey Harris, to become H.V. McKay Massey Harris Pty Ltd. The merged company continued to operate separate distribution and sales departments under the titles H.V. McKay Massey Harris Pty Ltd (Sunshine Section) and H.V. McKay Massey Harris Pty Ltd (Massey Harris Section) for a number of years, although agencies in many country towns were gradually merged over the following decade. The Sunshine factory manufactured both locally designed product lines and a number of the more popular Massey Harris designs from Canada in order to maximise the advantages under Austalian import tariffs, which had been changed during hte depression years to favour local manufacturing. In 1940 the two separate sales divisions were formerly merged.
In 1955, this company was in turn absorbed into the Massey-Ferguson global entity becoming Massey Ferguson (Aust.) Limited. In 1992, Massey Ferguson (Aust.) Ltd merged with the Australian distributor of the Japanese tractor manufacturer Iseki to become Massey Ferguson Iseki Australia Limited, which in turn become AGCO Australia Ltd in 1994.
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. 'Amalgamation of 2 Farm Machinery Companies', Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld), 26 Feb 1940, p.12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56153209.
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