Summary
Scale model of the 'Sunshine' stripper harvester, designed by Hugh Victor McKay. This early form of combine harvester was one of the first machines commerically available capable of stripping, threshing, winnowing, screening, and bagging grain crops such as wheat or oats. The model was made at the H. V. McKay Sunshine Harvester Works, Ballarat, 1899. Approximately one-fifth scale working model.
In 1912 Hugh V. McKay took the 1899 model to Russia to pursue the "splendid prospects" offered by exporting his products to the cereal growing areas of Russia.
Part of the H.V. McKay Sunshine Collection. which includes an extensive collection of business records and private papers relating the H.V. McKay and his enterprise.
The model was donated to the Science Museum of Victoria just prior to the merger of H.V. McKay Pty Ltd with the Canadian firm Massey Harris Pty Ltd in 1930.
Physical Description
Some details of model differ from the full size machine. Note the bagging arrangements, and chain drives.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Donation from H.V. McKay Pty Ltd, 28 Mar 1930
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Modelmaker
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Place & Date Used
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Place & Date Used
H.V. McKay Pty Ltd, Sunshine, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1906-1930
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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
72 cm (Length), 109 cm (Width), 86 cm (Height)
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Exhibition Collection Management
350 mm (Length), 670 mm (Width), 550 mm (Height)
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Overall Dimensions
940 mm (Length), 670 mm (Width), 580 mm (Height)
Bec Carland re-measured this in-situ in Australia Gallery to confirm dimensions for reselections in Aust Gallery re-development. Sizing is difficult to confrim under these conditions and allowance (up) have been made.
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Dimensions
930 mm (Length), 620 mm (Width), 560 mm (Height)
Measurement From Conservation. Measuring Method: Maximum dimensions weight 25.85Kg
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References
Museum Victoria, Sunshine Harvester website: [Link 1] Australian Dictionary of Biography Online - McKay, Hugh Victor (1865 - 1926): [Link 2]
[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
[Book] Perry, Warren. 1972. The Science Museum of Victoria - a history of its first hundred years., 1972
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Keywords
Agriculture, Australian Innovations, Exports, Harvesting Equipment, Industrial Design, Innovations, Stripper Harvesters, Innovation & Design
