Summary

A model of a single furrow, mouldboard, swing plough made in iron by Robert Mounsey (1836 - 1906) for an agricultural exhibition in October 1856.

The model represents a plough that was pulled by a horse with a farmer walking behind, holding and steering it over the soil. The term 'swing' was used for ploughs without any wheels or other feet.

Master Robert Mounsey entered this plough model in the Port Phillip Farmers' Society exhibition in 1856 and won the second prize silver medal. An article in the local paper at the time noted 'It is an elegant little specimen of mechanical skill, and reflects great credit upon its exhibitor, who is only sixteen years of age.'

However, according to a family historian, Robert Mounsey was actually 20 years old at the time. He was born in 1836 on the Isle of Man and had migrated to Melbourne with his parents, George and Mary Ann, and four younger siblings in 1853, settling in the Tullamarine area. His father, George, was a Master blacksmith and both Robert and his younger brother William were apprenticed to him in the blacksmithing trade. Robert soon married and established himself as a blacksmith in Sunbury. He continued to enter exhibits in the annual Port Phillip Famers' Society exhibition and associated agricultural machinery trials. In 1859 he exhibited a full-size hay rake in the 1859 Port Phillip Famers' Society exhibition and received a second prize silver medal. He was awarded a first prize honorary certificate for a horse hay rake in 1865. After his death in 1906 his smithy was taken over by his son John Francis who continued the blacksmithing trade.

After the 1856 exhibition he presented the model to the Melbourne Agricultural Museum (part of the collection of the National Museum of Victoria, established 1854) and the model was later transferred to the new Industrial & Technological Museum (established 1870) in 1872.

The Port Phillip Farmers' Society (now known as Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria) was formed in 1848 from a number of earlier farmers' societies in Victoria. The Society aimed to improve agricultural practices to meet the food needs of a growing population, and conducted ploughing matches in the area around Flemington. The Port Phillip Farmers' Society annual exhibition was first held in 1854 and displayed livestock and agricultural machinery, implements and produce in its yards. Although there were entry categories listed for machinery and implements, there was no specific category for models in 1856. At that time, the yards were located near Melbourne University, where the original collections of the National Museum of Victoria were housed and displayed. The current showgrounds in Ascot Vale were not established until 1882.

The model was part of the 'Colonial crafts of Victoria : early settlement to 1921' exhibition, curated by Murray Walker, and held at the National Gallery of Victoria, 4 Nov 1978 - 14 Jan 1979. In the exhibition catalogue, the exhibtion curator has described the model as follows: 'This plough accurately represents, in small scale, the characteristic robust implement used by the pioneer farmers of Victoria.'

Physical Description

Model of a swing plough, made of iron.

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