Ploughing Day, November 3, 2013.
Haulin' the Hume, April 27th & 28th, 2013.
Clarendon Classic Rally 2012
Celebrating 50 years of Kenworth in Australia, at "Clarendon Classic", 2012
More Clarendon Classic Rally 2012
"Clarendon Classic" Rallies 2000 & 2001, the way we were, back then.
Ploughing Day November 2012 SAMC.
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Lake Goldsmith Rally 2012.
As reported elsewhere, quite a contingent of SAMCI members made it to the Mecca of steam, Lake Goldsmith, for the 100thSteam Rally, marking 50 years since the establishment of the club and its site. From it was spawned the National Historic Machinery Association which manages our insurance and safety guidelines, and the biennial National Rally.
The Rally was conducted over three days – Sat, Sun & Mon, and we took Russell Gear’s 3” scale steam traction engine so we qualified as exhibitors. On the Saturday, we arrived at 8.00am ahead of the multitude, and were able to park our bus within the grounds in a quite advantageous spot. That day, some 10,000 visitors were reported to have attended, and the only effective road in was a 15Km traffic jam for hours.
The 42 sheds were all open, vast areas of fenced stationary engine exhibits took hours to walk around, and there were many tractors, cars, trucks and vintage caravans. The grand parade was restricted to steam engines only, and something like 100 trundled around the arena, with expert commentary.
Features such as the dragline and face shovel working, and the steam powered sawmill, were huge attractions. It was also great to witness a demonstration of steam ploughing using a pair of Fowler ploughing engines. I witnessed such an event at Menangle many years ago.
Sunday was just as busy, but Monday was much quieter, and those who attended that day said it was the time to talk to people and really check out the items of interest. We chose to visit Sovereign Hill instead that day. It is impossible to single out a personal highlight as there was just so much to see - unless it was Stuart Landry’s newly acquired McDonald‘D’ type T-head engine – but my bias is obvious! Only a few of these remain. Others might have been impressed with Stuart’s Ivel tractor, a work in progress, but coming along.
Early in 2011 the entire site had been inundated by floodwater 4’ (1.2m) deep, a huge disaster, yet it was a testament to the Club that the only evidence was a waterline to highlight it in a few places.
Lake Goldsmith Bus Trip Report– by Ian Browning
What a trip! 12 Club members in our bus and a similar number in a second one made the pilgrimage to LakeGoldsmith for their 100th Steam rally on 3-5th November. It marked their club’s 50th anniversary, surely one of the oldest historic machinery clubs in the country. Many say that anyone in the movement should attend one LakeGoldsmith rally in a lifetime. Well, we have done that!
I can only relate the story of our particular trip, which commenced at the club grounds on Saturday 27 October, travelling to Wagga, then the next day we visited Clancy’s Museum near Cobargo on Joe Zahra’s recommendation on our way to Echuca. Apart from his collection of International tractors and related gear, and a most extensive number plate collection, an item that took my eye was a horse-works operated merry-go-round under restoration, complete with original wooden horses. At Echuca where we enjoyed a 2-hour paddle steamer cruise on PS Emmylou on the Murray River. Next day we called in to the Lake Boga Catalina Flying Boat Museum which was quite an eye opener. Who would have thought the maintenance of the Pacific flying boat fleet was carried out there during WW 2. Then on to Swan Hill and the Pioneer Settlement which has an extensive collection of rare tractors such as Avance, Jelbart, Saunderson etc, many of which have been restored under the guidance of Newton Williams. The settlement has many period buildings, schools, gaol, shops, and so on and has permanent staff as well as many volunteers.
On our way to Hamilton, our next overnight stop, we called in on the Woods brothers’ museum at Rapunyup. This is truly indescribable! Such a varied collection ranging from Arnotts biscuit tins to screw jacks, bottles to wheat bag stuffers, radios to wrenches. Someone tried to count the tractors in one shed – I think it was 80 odd, nearly all Fordsons and all different. From Hamiltonwe went on to Portland, and enjoyed a ride in the tram, and some climbed the converted water tower (132 steps) for the view. We discovered a little museum on the tram route containing an excellent selection
of cars, engines, and a superbly restored Lanz Bulldog tractor. We joined the Great Ocean Road at its beginning and called in at many of the points of interest along its entire length. At Warrnambool we discovered a butter factory museum with many interesting items, and of particular interest to me, a separate building containing probably 20 Bruce & McCLure engines made in 1910-1920 in that town. (I have one!) The next night was spent at the Cape Otway Lighthouse keeper’s cottage. Not only was there a Koala Bear in the tree at the entrance to the cottage, along the 11Km road leading in were literally dozens of them. They had stripped many trees bare, and we counted as many as 14 in the one tree. It was quite an experience!
Then on to Ballarat where we stayed for 4 nights while we visited the Lake Goldsmith Rally on the Saturday and Sunday, and Sovereign Hill on the Monday. I was a little disappointed personally with Sovereign Hill, finding it a bit drab, although the workshop spinning steel pans etc using overhead belt driven machinery was most interesting, and it too is under threat from OH&S which has forced the closure of some other workshops which once entertained visitors.
We then travelled to Wendouree and enjoyed a walk through the Botanical Gardens in which there is an avenue with busts of all the past Prime Ministers, with a spot prepared and waiting for Ms Gillard! Then a short distance further to spend a couple of hours in the hot spring baths at Hepburn Springs,
and enjoyed luxurious overnight accommodation nearby. Down to Melbournethe next day (Wednesday) after first having a steam train ride from Maldon to Castlemaine and back - plenty of soot in the eyes! On Thursday we called in to the Melbourne SteamMuseum at Scoresby where we saw‘Bigfoot’, the walking dragline that was featured in TOMM, but that is the tip of the iceberg – they have a large collection of working steam and plenty of internal combustion engines big and small. The volunteers were working on the Willans diesel engine also recently featured. Then we set off for home, over-nighting at Lakes Entrance and Cooma. At Bombala we happened upon the local club setting up for the weekend rally and there was a good selection of displays. We arrived home early afternoon on Saturday 10th November.
Our thanks to Tim Brodie for all the effort he put in to organising an excellent itinerary and all the accommodation and transport. It all went flawlessly.
Now I haven’t mentioned the Lake Goldsmith Rally, the purpose of the trip! This will be a separate story above.
As reported elsewhere, quite a contingent of SAMCI members made it to the Mecca of steam, Lake Goldsmith, for the 100thSteam Rally, marking 50 years since the establishment of the club and its site. From it was spawned the National Historic Machinery Association which manages our insurance and safety guidelines, and the biennial National Rally.
The Rally was conducted over three days – Sat, Sun & Mon, and we took Russell Gear’s 3” scale steam traction engine so we qualified as exhibitors. On the Saturday, we arrived at 8.00am ahead of the multitude, and were able to park our bus within the grounds in a quite advantageous spot. That day, some 10,000 visitors were reported to have attended, and the only effective road in was a 15Km traffic jam for hours.
The 42 sheds were all open, vast areas of fenced stationary engine exhibits took hours to walk around, and there were many tractors, cars, trucks and vintage caravans. The grand parade was restricted to steam engines only, and something like 100 trundled around the arena, with expert commentary.
Features such as the dragline and face shovel working, and the steam powered sawmill, were huge attractions. It was also great to witness a demonstration of steam ploughing using a pair of Fowler ploughing engines. I witnessed such an event at Menangle many years ago.
Sunday was just as busy, but Monday was much quieter, and those who attended that day said it was the time to talk to people and really check out the items of interest. We chose to visit Sovereign Hill instead that day. It is impossible to single out a personal highlight as there was just so much to see - unless it was Stuart Landry’s newly acquired McDonald‘D’ type T-head engine – but my bias is obvious! Only a few of these remain. Others might have been impressed with Stuart’s Ivel tractor, a work in progress, but coming along.
Early in 2011 the entire site had been inundated by floodwater 4’ (1.2m) deep, a huge disaster, yet it was a testament to the Club that the only evidence was a waterline to highlight it in a few places.
Lake Goldsmith Bus Trip Report– by Ian Browning
What a trip! 12 Club members in our bus and a similar number in a second one made the pilgrimage to LakeGoldsmith for their 100th Steam rally on 3-5th November. It marked their club’s 50th anniversary, surely one of the oldest historic machinery clubs in the country. Many say that anyone in the movement should attend one LakeGoldsmith rally in a lifetime. Well, we have done that!
I can only relate the story of our particular trip, which commenced at the club grounds on Saturday 27 October, travelling to Wagga, then the next day we visited Clancy’s Museum near Cobargo on Joe Zahra’s recommendation on our way to Echuca. Apart from his collection of International tractors and related gear, and a most extensive number plate collection, an item that took my eye was a horse-works operated merry-go-round under restoration, complete with original wooden horses. At Echuca where we enjoyed a 2-hour paddle steamer cruise on PS Emmylou on the Murray River. Next day we called in to the Lake Boga Catalina Flying Boat Museum which was quite an eye opener. Who would have thought the maintenance of the Pacific flying boat fleet was carried out there during WW 2. Then on to Swan Hill and the Pioneer Settlement which has an extensive collection of rare tractors such as Avance, Jelbart, Saunderson etc, many of which have been restored under the guidance of Newton Williams. The settlement has many period buildings, schools, gaol, shops, and so on and has permanent staff as well as many volunteers.
On our way to Hamilton, our next overnight stop, we called in on the Woods brothers’ museum at Rapunyup. This is truly indescribable! Such a varied collection ranging from Arnotts biscuit tins to screw jacks, bottles to wheat bag stuffers, radios to wrenches. Someone tried to count the tractors in one shed – I think it was 80 odd, nearly all Fordsons and all different. From Hamiltonwe went on to Portland, and enjoyed a ride in the tram, and some climbed the converted water tower (132 steps) for the view. We discovered a little museum on the tram route containing an excellent selection
of cars, engines, and a superbly restored Lanz Bulldog tractor. We joined the Great Ocean Road at its beginning and called in at many of the points of interest along its entire length. At Warrnambool we discovered a butter factory museum with many interesting items, and of particular interest to me, a separate building containing probably 20 Bruce & McCLure engines made in 1910-1920 in that town. (I have one!) The next night was spent at the Cape Otway Lighthouse keeper’s cottage. Not only was there a Koala Bear in the tree at the entrance to the cottage, along the 11Km road leading in were literally dozens of them. They had stripped many trees bare, and we counted as many as 14 in the one tree. It was quite an experience!
Then on to Ballarat where we stayed for 4 nights while we visited the Lake Goldsmith Rally on the Saturday and Sunday, and Sovereign Hill on the Monday. I was a little disappointed personally with Sovereign Hill, finding it a bit drab, although the workshop spinning steel pans etc using overhead belt driven machinery was most interesting, and it too is under threat from OH&S which has forced the closure of some other workshops which once entertained visitors.
We then travelled to Wendouree and enjoyed a walk through the Botanical Gardens in which there is an avenue with busts of all the past Prime Ministers, with a spot prepared and waiting for Ms Gillard! Then a short distance further to spend a couple of hours in the hot spring baths at Hepburn Springs,
and enjoyed luxurious overnight accommodation nearby. Down to Melbournethe next day (Wednesday) after first having a steam train ride from Maldon to Castlemaine and back - plenty of soot in the eyes! On Thursday we called in to the Melbourne SteamMuseum at Scoresby where we saw‘Bigfoot’, the walking dragline that was featured in TOMM, but that is the tip of the iceberg – they have a large collection of working steam and plenty of internal combustion engines big and small. The volunteers were working on the Willans diesel engine also recently featured. Then we set off for home, over-nighting at Lakes Entrance and Cooma. At Bombala we happened upon the local club setting up for the weekend rally and there was a good selection of displays. We arrived home early afternoon on Saturday 10th November.
Our thanks to Tim Brodie for all the effort he put in to organising an excellent itinerary and all the accommodation and transport. It all went flawlessly.
Now I haven’t mentioned the Lake Goldsmith Rally, the purpose of the trip! This will be a separate story above.