Media: paperback - 238 pages
Author: F. Wheelhouse
Year: 1977
Publisher: Rigby (Seal)

Used, but in good condition

Agriculture has played a leading role in the development of Australia as a nation. So, too, the ingenuity of Australian farmers and engineers has played an important part in the development of agriculture throughout the world.

Ever since the first settlers found it necessary to improve upon the meagre supplies of government-donated farming implements, Australians have been at the forefront of advances in farming techniques. Often it was the need to overcome some particular adversity of local conditions that prompted men like H. V. McKay, Headlie Taylor, and Cliff Howard to develop their ideas and turn them into working machines.

In Digging Stick to Rotary Hoe, Frances Wheelhouse has presented the results of many years painstaking research. She tells how the Stump Jump Plough, the Stripper, and the Header Harvester came to be invented. The many Australian inventions for improved ploughing, seeding, shearing, and wool-pressing are described, together with the much-needed sources of power—steam engines, tractors, and the advent of four-wheel drive.

The author has brought together many of the determined men whose machines and pioneering spirit have contributed more than is usually acknowledged to the agriculture of Australia and the rest of the world. 

Contents

Foreword

Author’s Note

1. INTRODUCTION: THE DAWN OF ACHIEVEMENT - The Aboriginal digging stick—stripping and winnowing—the Stump Jump Plough—shearing — the Harvester — power units — the Header Harvester — seeding machines — the Rotary Hoe

2 CONQUERING THE SOIL - The evolution of the Plough — man's advance in stirring the soil — the Stump Jump Plough — the Smith brothers — development of the Mallee — the American Brushlands Plough

3 SCATTERING THE SEED - Struggle of early settlers — overseas seeding machines — R, A, Squire's invention, the Spring Tyne Drill Cultivator — A. Hannaford's wheat pickling machine

4 STRIPPING THE GRAIN - An Australian mechanical reaping machine — overseas machines of the time — the scythe — John Ridley and John Wrathall Bull—Western Australian machines — the Mellor family — the Shearer brothers — Cyrus Hall - McCormick — International Harvester Company

5 THE CHAFF FROM THE GRAIN - The Winnower and the Stripper Harvester — English harvesting systems — John Stokes Bagshaw — origin of the threshing machine — hand, animal and power — driven winnoivers — chaff cutters

6 THE YOUNG GENIUS - Manufacture and successful trials of the ‘Wonder Machine' — H, V., J. and N. McKay—growth of an enormous secondary industry — Customs duties — the basic wage and industrial strikes — the Flying Doctor service — death of H. V. McKay

7 THE BEST HARVESTER OF ALL — AND “BULKING” THE GRAIN - Headlie Shipard Taylor and the Header Harvester — harvesting machines — the Reaper Thresher — H. S. Taylor's story — McKay purchases patent rights — Header's economic value — bulk handling of wheat — Close's invention — co operative companies — the Australian Wheat Hoard — modification of equipment — Australia's storage capacity

8 FAREWELL THE TRUSTY SHEARS! - The invention of the shearing machine in Australia — James Higham, J. Gwynne, F. 7. Wolseley, John Howard, Lord Austin, William Ry ley, Robert Savage, R. P. Park, Jim Davidson — famous Australian shearing machines 

9 GATHERING THE WOOL - woo and hay presses — wire fences and wool transport — C. Koerstz— Major Donald — the shepherd — the development of wire fences — shearing cradles

10 POWER COMES TO THE RESCUE - Windmills, waterwheels, artesian bores — advent of steam power—the bullock waggon—Hunter Valley settlement — cream separators and milking machines — herringbone parlours — land settlement schemes — steam traction engines — four-wheel drive and T. Quinlivan— Frank Bottrill and the Road Wheel — road trains-—the Jelbart Crude Oil Tractor—the Fowler Rein Drive Tractor

11 THE ROTARY HOE - Arthur Cliff Howard — development to world-wide importance — economic value to Australia 

12 AUSTRALIA AND THE FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER - Primitive implements in use today — resistance to change - work of United Nations

Bibliography

Index