| The early tractors were at best unreliable. Combined with fuel that came in five gallon tins and required heating to make it pourable, lack of tools and limited mechanical knowledge the early pioneers on the bush blocks of Western Australia needed a great deal of patience and perseverance. Sometimes even the hardiest individuals could take no more. This was the case in the early twenties when my grandfather was asked to take his soldering gear across to a nieghbours block to do some repairs to the fuel system on the neighbours tractor. Seems that the neighbour had been cranking that darn thing for some hours with no result other than some nasty bruises from the occasional backfire and when it backfired with a vengence yet again the good neighbour grabbed up his . 303 rifle and shot the tractor! Needless to say this action did little to help the situation! The restoration of my 36 Lanz Bulldog was completed not as a tribute to this mechanical monster but in memory of men like my Grandfather and his brothers who spent the best years of their lives coping with the harsh reality of farming using these primative beasts and whom in their twilight years would look back on those days with remarkable humour. Tim Bailye, from OZ, entered 2000-09-16 |
