Agricultural Engineering - Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia
S 24° 52.000 E 152° 20.860
56J E 434101 N 7249657
This bronze plaque is embedded in an angled concrete block in Buss Park.
Waymark Code: WM17MV6
Location: Queensland, Australia
Date Posted: 03/11/2023
Views: 1
The bronze plaque acknowledges the development and manufacture of sugar cane harvesters being centred in the city of Bundaberg. A 27 metre long machine used to cut the straight sugar cane was invented in 1898 by John Rowland. At that time there were others also creating mechanical harvesters to reduce the otherwise very manual labour of cutting down the mature cane, including: H.F. Callender, C.D. Bock, J.A. Smith and R.H. Paul.
"The first cane harvester to be extensively demonstrated in Queensland was developed 1908-16 by Bundaberg canegrower Charles Hurrey. The project was partially financed by Ralp Falkiner, a pastoralist and shearing machine inventor. Further development took place and, in 1929, Falkiner and W.G. Charley accompanied one of these Falkiner harvesters to Cuba. The two men converted the machine to chopper harvesting, the first commercial application of chopper harvesting in the world. Fourteen of these machines operated in Florida for a period..." [ex- 'Primary Web Site' link]
The bronze plaque in Buss Park has the following inscription.
HISTORIC LANDMARK
OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
Australian farmers began developing
machines for harvesting sugar cane
around 1890. Commercial success was
achieved in the 1960s and manufacturing
centred on Bundaberg.
By 1970 Toft Bros. and Massey Ferguson
were the major manufacturers of cane
harvesters worldwide and Bundaberg had
become the acknowledged world centre of
Development and Manufacture
of Sugar Cane Harvesters
thereby making a major contribution
to Australian Industry
Dedicated by
The Institution of Engineers, Australia
August 1984
The 'Secondary Website' link shows a 2 minute video of the Australian invention at work in 1925.
Visited: 1231, Thursday, 9 June, 2022