dethridge wheel

In 1910 John Dethridge invented an irrigation farm water metering wheel - used in the United States, Africa and Israel as well as Australia. They weren't very accurate and could be 'tampered' with (so water was delivered unmetered) but must have been the best thing around to have lasted for nearly 100 years. Mr Dethridge's wheels are being replaced by a solar powered, remotely operated flume gate.

This wheel has grown some interesting rust.....

donegal flowers

Daisies near a derelict mill.

A man walking the other way said these pink flowers are orchids,

and the flowers below were in the very exotic and well maintained gardens of Glenveagh Castle.

Bucyrus Start Up

Every two years Coleambally holds a Vintage Machinery Rally and one of the highlights is the start up of the Bucyrus Erie Class III Dragline. Two Holden car engines are used as starter motors and they make a lot more noise than Bucyrus itself when it finally gets going.....

the black smoke only lasted for a few monents then it putted along very quietly.

Sign on Bucyrus:

"BUCYRUS ERIE CLASS III DRAGLINE

This machine is one of four imported from the U.S.A. in 1935 & used to excavate the main channels in the Murray Valley & the Coleambally Irrigation Area.

They were "walked" to Coleambally from Deniliquin following completion of the Mulwala Canal & commenced work here in 1958.

In 1978 the machine was driven to this site & is still in working condition.

Specifications: Weight - 130 tonnes; Speed - 3kph; Bucket Size - 4 cu mtrs

Engine: 275 hp Rushton Hornsby 5cm Diesel Started by compressed air - 300 p.s.i.

A project by the Lions Club as a memorial to all those who made Coleambally a reality."

On show at the Rally were old tractors, old cars and trucks, old machines of all sorts

furphy

Last weekend at the Coleambally Vintage Rally I finally got to see a Furphy water cart close up. I heard the water carts have a message in shorthand on them and sure enough it did have, (it's the line of squiggles across the middle of the tank end) and Pitman shorthand too which I learnt at school. I have a certificate to say I can do 120 wpm but found that not many of the people I worked for could compose a letter at that speed (not actually very fast) and now I can sort of read it but don't write it at all. The mysterious message is here. These water carts were designed by John Furphy who set up his foundry in Shepparton in 1871. They were so successful that during WWI the Australian army bought many water carts for camps in Australia and in Palestine and Egypt.

Furphy is also a word meaning rumour, absurd story or downright lie and it seems to have come about because of gossip around the water cart (as these days round a water cooler). Coincidentally an American term, scuttlebutt, originated from a water-butt for sailors to drink from.

two windmills

This really big windmill was made in Sydney in 1910 and brought by rail and bullock waggon to Goolgumbla (sheep) Station in the Riverina where it pumped underground water to the homestead, ram sheds and dams up until 1977 when it was wind damaged beyond repair. The windmill was given as a historical exhibit to Jerilderie town. It was restored and from 1979 has been in Luke Park, where it pumps water (when available) from the Billabong Creek into the lake. Steel Wings technical information and a photo .

This is a much more common site, a Southern Cross windmill.