Summary
The Sunshine Stripper Harvester is famous for combining in one machine the functions of the stripper and winnower. In one operation it could gather and thresh the ripe heads, separate the grain from the chaff and deliver the grain for bagging.
This 'Sunshine' stripper harvester is a Type 'A' model with 5-foot wide comb, serial no: 8193, made at the H. V. McKay's Sunshine Harvester Works, Ballarat, 1906.
Physical Description
List of Parts: Chain Link
Significance
A number of Australians were involved in the development of the stripper harvester. The most important was HV McKay who produced a successful machine in 1884 and subsequently manufactured large numbers as the "Sunshine" stripper harvester. The development of the stripper harvester increased the efficiency of cereal harvesting and helped to establish Australia as a leading cereal producing country.
The great drought of 1902 froze the demand for harvesters. With 200 machines and no crops to harvester or prospect of selling them, McKay was compelled to look outside Australia for an alternative market for his equipment and sent his brother Sam with 50 machines to Argentina. This was the start of a very successful export market that included South America, South Africa, Siberia and the United States. Until the First World War halted trade McKay sold over 10,000 harvesters to South American countries.
The innovative stripper harvester was the basis on which the McKay company became the largest agricultural manufacturing enterprise in the Southern Hemisphere.
More Information
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Donation from Mr J. P. Pollard, 1966
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Place & Date Made
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Brand Names
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Classification
Agriculture & rural life, Crop management - harvesting, Stripper harvesters
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Overall Dimensions
3400 mm (Length), 2800 mm (Width), 2300 mm (Height), 1397 kg (Weight)
H.V. McKay 1910 Agent's Price List records the wieght of a Type 'A' model 'Sunshine' harvester as 27 cwt 2 qtr 0 lbs = 3,080 lbs = 1397 kg.
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Exhibition Collection Management
3770 mm (Length), 2878 mm (Width), 2400 mm (Height)
Height includes stillage (240mm).
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References
[Link 1] viewed 12.05.2008 LDH
[Article] Dale-Hallett, Liza, et al. 'The McKay Collection', in Rasmussen, Carolyn. A Museum for the People: A History of Museum Victoria and its predecesors, 1854-2000. pp.271-273., 2001
[Article] 2003. "Resurrecting the Sunshine Harvester Works: Re-presenting and Reinterpreting the Experience of Industrial Work in Twentieth-Century Australia", Labour History., 2003
[Article] Dale-Hallett, Liza. 2004. "Collecting by Stealth: the HV McKay Collection", Museum Victoria Magazine., 2004
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Keywords
Agriculture, Exports, Harvesting Equipment, Industrial Design, Innovation & Design, Stripper Harvesters