Summary

Octavo sized stapled booklet with protective cardboard covers. Cover of booklet features an orange sun with 'Sunshine' emblazoned across this.

The booklet features a ten page narrative 'The Sunshine Harvester - A Neighbourly Chat', which takes the form of a neighbourly chat between two men, named Mr Squarehead and Mr Newcomon, who have met at a railway station whilst a train load of 'Sunshine' harvesters is passing through, inspiring a conversation about H.V. McKay's Sunshine enterprise and its benefits to Australian farmers. The text makes reference to a record train load of 88 'Sunshine' harvesters that was dispatched from the works at Ballarat to farmers around Albury, Corowa and the north-east of Victoria on 4th November 1904.

The top of each page features a narrow black and white line drawing highlighted with yellow. These illustrations are strong romantic images, in a cameo or cartoon narrative depicting a variety of agricultural pursuits across time and place, including the Andes, Chile, Arabia and Australia. One of the illustrations depicts a man on a Sunshine harvester and another man bagging the grain, with a man and two ladies observing. The farmer says: 'I say, Girls! This 'Sunshine' is all right. Will one of you drive, while I load up the waggon?'

The booklet includes a key statement urging farmers to buy Australian products: 'Made in Australia. Every Farmer Should Remember that it is right to his fellow-citizens in the Commonwealth that a man who earns his living in Australia, who finds a market therein for his produce, should patronise home production wherever possible. When the goods are equal in quality, even if the terms are a trifle harder, this preference should be made. Every fair minded man should see the justice of this. Keep the money in the Commonwealth and don't send it to foreign countries that bar out our meat, wheat, fodder, wool, leather, butter, eggs and manufactures.'

The booklet was published at a time when H.V. McKay had factories in both Ballarat and Braybrook, with the head office & showrooms at 668 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
Articles appearing in numerous Australian newspapers suggest that this catalogue was publishing around June 1906 - see References.

Physical Description

Octavo sized stapled booklet with protective cardboard covers, appoximately 20 pages, illustrated with enhanced black and white photographs and line drawings. The top of each page features a narrow black and white line drawing highlighted with yellow. First page includes telegraphic addresses and branch offices and head office. Rear page illustrates the rear of a Sunshine harvester.

Title

'Sunshine / Hugh V. McKay, Australia.' (front cover) 'SUNSHINE Machinery Implements CATALOGUE / Manufactured by HUGH V. McKay, Australia. / Head Office: 668 Bourke Street, MELBOURNE.' (title page)

More Information

  • Collection Names

    H.V. McKay Sunshine Collection, Old McKay Archive (Transfer No.1) Series C

  • Collecting Areas

    Sustainable Futures

  • Acquisition Information

    Donation & Subsequent Transfer from Councillor Don McKay, Old McKay Archives, Science & Technology Collection, Museum Victoria, Nov 1973

  • Manufacturer

    Hugh V. McKay, Sunshine Harvester Works, Sunshine, Victoria, Australia

  • Publication Date

    1906/06 circa

  • Manufacturer

    H.V. McKay, Sunshine Harvester Works, Victoria, Australia, 1904-1906
    In 1904 H.V. McKay purchased Braybrook Implement Works. In 1906 he moved his operations from Ballarat to Braybrook Junction. In 1907 Braybrook Junction was renamed Sunshine.

  • Printer

    The Bulletin Poster Press, Sydney, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1904-1906
    In 1904 H.V. McKay purchased Braybrook Implement Works. During 1906-7 he prgressively moved his main manufacturing operations from Ballarat to Braybrook Junction. In August 1907, Braybrook Junction was renamed Sunshine.

  • Illustrator

    Harry J. Weston, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1906
    The catalogue is illustrated by Henry John Weston (1874-1955), the well-known Australian cartoonist, painter, commercial artist and architect, who was born in Hobart and worked in Launceston (1890s), Melbourne (c.1898-1905) and later Sydney (c.1905-1945).

  • Inscriptions

    The outer cardboard cover is handwritten with: 'General Catalogue/ Ballarat' with unidentified text. First page reads: 'Sunshine/Machinery/Implements/Catalogue/Manufactured by/Hugh V. McKay, Australia/Factories:/Braybrook and Ballarat, Victoria./' First page, Branch offices are listed as: '42 Engine Street, Sydney, N.S.W./54 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia/W. Sandover & Co., Hay Street, Perth, Western/ Australia/Dalgety & Co. Ltd, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane/Queensland./24 Calle Defensa, Buenos Aires.' First page, Head Office: '668 Bourke Street, Melbourne'. Last page reads: 'Printed by W. Macleod/The Bulletin Poster Press/214 George St. Sydney'.

  • Brand Names

    "SUNSHINE" (Agricultural Implements) , "SUNBEAM" (Agricultural Implements) , "SUNRISE" (Agricultural Implements) , "MAXIM" (Agricultural Implements) , "HERCULES" (Agricultural Implements) , "FIELD MARSHAL" (Agricultural Implements) , "SUNDIAL" (Agricultural Implements)

  • Number of Pages

    36

  • Page Size Format

    135 x 210

  • Primary Subject

    Agricultural Implements

  • Illustration Types

    Black & White; Line Drawings

  • Printing Types

    Limited Colour

  • Publication Types

    Publicity Brochure, Specific Product Catalogue

  • Classification

    Agriculture & rural life, General farm equipment, Equipment catalogues

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    Trade Literature

  • Type of item

    Document

  • Overall Dimensions

    135 (Width), 4 (Depth), 210 (Height)

  • References

    In June 1906 articles along the following lines were published in numerous NSW regional newspapers. "We have received a copy of the 'Sunshine' machinery and implement catalogue just issued by Mr. H. V. McKay, of harvester fame. It is printed on finely glazed paper, and as a production is without parallel. The ' Sunshine ' harvester is fully described in the form of a neighbourly chat between two settlers, who happen to have met at a railway station whilst a train load of these useful machines is passing through. The explanation is clear and succinct, and can be under stood thoroughly by the youngest child. Drawings of portions of the machinery are distributed throughout the book, and the various processes to which the heads of wheat are subjected after stripping can be easily followed by reference to these. The following paragraph which appears in the middle of the catalogue is worthy of reproduction as good sound advice to Australian farmers : 'Every farmer should remember that it is right to his fellow citizens that a man who earns his living in Australia, who finds a market therein for his produce, should patronise home production wherever possible. When the goods are equal in quality, even if the terms are a trifle harder, this preference should be made. Every fair-minded man should see the justice of this. Keep the money in the Commonwealth, and don't send it to foreign countries that bar out our meat, wheat, fodder, wool, leather, butter, eggs and manufactures. Why take goods from countries that will not let in any products of our farms and factories ?' The various ploughs, the ' Field Marshal ' grain and fertilizer drill, the 'Maxim' chaff-cutter, the ' Hercules ' horse-works, and numerous other agricultural implements and accessories manufactured by this go ahead Australian firm are also fully and explicitly described. A series of interesting illustrations of the methods of agriculture, past and present, in various parts of the world, have been contributed to the volume by Harry J. Weston,' the well-known artist. These in themselves are well worth looking at. As a catalogue, the volume is without equal, and forms interesting reading, a thing which very few catalogues do. Farmers requiring a copy will receive one post free, on application being made to Mr. H. V. McKay, Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide." 'AN INTERESTING CATALOGUE', Wellington Times, 21 Jun 1906, p.7, [Link 1] ; 'The Sunshine Harvester', Australian Town & Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 21 Dec 1904, p.26, [Link 2]

  • Keywords

    Agricultural Implements, Chaffcutters, Disc Harrows, Grain & Fertilizer Drills, Stump Jump Disc Ploughs