Summary

A typewritten Memorandum of Agreement between Josiah and John Andrewartha, of Fern Hollow Farm, Moonta, South Australia, and Hugh Victor McKay, manufacturer of Ballarat, dated 24th January 1902. Signed by Josiah and H. V. McKay, and witnessed by Samuel McKay.

The agreement is for the exclusive use by Hugh Victor McKay of the invention "Improved Seed and Fertiliser Boxes and Means for discharging seed and fertiliser therefrom" (Patent Number 4906, dated 25th July 1900) on drills, ploughs, cultivators and other implements in South Australia. This exclusive use is granted in exchange for a royalty of 10 shillings per machine for the first 50 machines sold in South Australia, 7 shillings and sixpence for the next 50 machines, and 5 shillings thereafter. The agreement also sells the rights for the use of the invention in other States and countries for £50.

Part of a collection of photographs, negatives, moving film, artefacts, documents and trade literature belonging to the H. V. McKay Sunshine Collection. The McKay collection is regarded as one of the most significant industrial heritage collections in Australia. The collection relates to the agricultural manufacturing firm, the Sunshine Harvester Works. The Australian operations of this company were originally founded by Hugh V. McKay in the 1890s in Ballarat. Between 1906 and 1907, McKay moved production to Sunshine where the firm became one of the largest industrial businesses in Australia. Change in ownership is a recurring theme in the company's history. In 1930, it merged with Massey-Harris to become H.V McKay Massey Harris. In the mid-1950s, the company was absorbed by Canadian agricultural firm Massey-Ferguson. Production in Sunshine ceased in the mid-1980s, following almost 100 years of manufacturing agricultural equipment.

Physical Description

Single lined, off-white sheet of paper. Typewritten text in purple ink. Handwritten text in black ink. Underlined text in red ink. An olive green duty stamp with profile image of a woman wearing a tiara is affixed in top left corner.

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