Pioneers who ploughed into New Zealand
Reporter looks over some equipment which helped shaped our land and economy, for our series,
In Frank Donny’s old farm machinery museum, there were a vast amount of old treasures that would make any farm machinery enthusiast excited.
Old farm machinery from the private collection of Frank Donny was donated to Morrinsville Museum in the hope it would be preserved and put on display for all to enjoy.
Given the rich farming history of the district, it was the perfect place for the machinery to be exhibited. A home made seeder, thought to have been brought to the area from Canterbury is one such item.
Kiwi ingenuity built the seeder to harvest seeds from grass for resowing and sale instead of importing seed from Britian.
The one horse grass stripper was originally used on the Canterbury Plains during the 1880s and was entirely hand made. It was taken from Canterbury to Raglan at the turn of the 20th century before being extensively used in Kiwitahi from 1920-24.
For maximum efficiency, it was used in bright sunny weather between 12-3pm. The body was rebuilt in the 1920s and the stripper is probably the only one of its kind left in New Zealand.
The Roadman’s Plough was used by the Piako County Council on road water tables with a horse drawn road grader circa 1900-1910.
Made by Reid & Gravy of Burnside Dunedin, this Reid & Gray was a single furrow two- wheel plough. This plough had strong Scottish influences and Reid & Gray previously concentrated on the Scotch Swing Plough. Gray started making ploughs at Uddingston, near Glasgow, Scotland in 1805. Some of the family came to New Zealand and continued in the plough making tradition.
James Gray (1834-1922) came out in 1863 to join Robert Reid. Reid & Gray started in Oamaru in 1868 and later moved over the family interests in 1927 and then built the new manufacturing plant. This plough was still in catalogues in 1929.