Summary

Negative of Jack Vance, an employee in the Accounting Department at H.V McKay Massey Harris. During World War II, Vance left his position at the company to join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) where he served for six years. Vance was captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore in 1942 and spent the next three years in prisoner of war camps in Singapore, Burma and Thailand. During this period, Vance worked on the notorious Burma-Thailand railway. He was released from captivity in August 1944 and returned to Sunshine the following year. By September 1946 Vance was re-employed at H.V McKay Massey Harris and continued to work for the company over the next two decades. He became the firm's Director of Finance in 1966.

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.

Description of Content

Portrait of man wearing glasses, shirt, tie, vest and jacket.

Physical Description

Black and white negative.

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