History
From French Island To Canberra By Peter McCullough
P
ictured above is the 1912 McDonald ‘EB’ Imperial tractor (No. 140) which recently was put on display at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. This imposing machine, one of the earliest Australian-made tractors, started its working life on French Island. Adapting the internal combustion engine Horses and steam engines powered Australian agriculture before the turn of the 20th century. However, the invention
E ssence
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of the oil-driven internal combustion engine in the 1870’s transformed automotive and agricultural industries around the world. Many British, European and American innovators began exploring the tremendous capacity of petrol and kerosene oil-powered machinery to replace animal and human labour. Perhaps the first ‘agricultural motor’ to arrive in Australia was an English-made ‘lvel’ exported to a Tasmanian orchardist in 1903.
