ALL roads led to Quambatook on the Australia Day long weekend for the Quambatook Harvest Working Machinery Display and Vintage Tractor Pull.
Organised annually by the Quambatook Heritage Working Machinery Association, the two-day event attracted an “exceptional patronage” of more than 700 people.
“People attend these events because of the nostalgia and some of today’s generation like to see how machinery was for farming pioneers,” president Doug Carroll said.
Members of the association were busy leading up to the weekend, working on various projects.
In August last year, the group was offered the pick of some farm machinery on a property in central New South Wales.
Some members travelled north with three trucks and four trailers (one road train) and spent a day looking and then loading five old trucks and four tractors.
The trucks were a F600 Ford, Jailbar Ford, Kew Dodge, Maple Leaf Chev and an O model Bedford.
All trucks, except the F600, are fitted with gravity grain bins.
The tractors were a Chamberlain Countryman (with 354 Perkins), Fordson Super Major, 35 Massey Ferguson and an N model Fordson.
A Minneapolis balers, collected from Donald, also on display, attracted interest.
Some of the machines were put to work in a wheat crop.
Mr Carroll said the harvesting demonstration on the Saturday was always a popular draw card.
“This year we had vintage tractors coming far and wide,” he said. “We have some people from Nhill, who brought three truckloads and repeat offenders who keep coming back from Deniliquin and Finley areas.
“Everything was fully catered for, so we had a good roll up for the roast dinner on the Saturday night after the tractor pull – about 70 heads.”
Mr Carroll said it took a large amount of time and effort to make the event happen.
“The weekend prior, and right through that week, five or six club members were there every day getting stuff out of the sheds and cleaning, lining up and hooking up,” he said.
“We’re done and dusted for another year.”
Mr Carroll said funds raised from the event would be used for local projects and further collections.
“We’ve just just acquired a defibrillator, so we’ll share that with with the tractor pull people and other clubs that want to borrow it,” he said.
“The rest of the money rose goes towards collecting more antiques and buildings sheds to cover it all.”
