A.H. McDonald and the Horsepower From Down Under

In 1924, little-known McDonald & Company began selling a tractor equipped with a simple, low-engine-speed diesel. That was six years before Caterpillar would make history by offering a production-line made diesel crawler.

Very likely the reason you’ve never heard of the McDonald, which can lay claim to being the first diesel-powered wheeled tractor in the world, is that the machine toiled far from U.S. farmers’ eyes in Australia.

Such is the rich history of the Australian-built tractor. Since the 1910s, around 45 manufacturers on that continent effectively competed with imported tractors from Europe and the U.S. to supply farmers on that continent with much-needed horsepower.

Harsh Conditions

“Isolation, environmental extremes, shallow soils, minimal government assistance, and widely fluctuating economic circumstances over the years have forced farmers Down Under to operate at high levels of efficiency,” explained Graeme Quick, author of Australian Tractors, a 176-page book detailing the development of the Australian tractor.

Quick’s acquaintance with world agriculture is second to none. As an agricultural engineer, he has worked on four continents advancing farm mechanics. So it’s more than home pride bursting forth when he claims that Australian tractor engineers deserve recognition for their contributions to farm power.

Bear in mind there were no large manufacturers of engines, transmissions, or related essential components in Australia like Waukasha, Buda, Spicer, or Timpkin, Quick pointed out.

“Aussie tractor makers either had to import those items at a higher cost (compared to U.S. tractor builders) or to make do by making their own components,” Quick said.

A.H. McDonald offers a prime example of making do. The Victoria-based manufacturer was the first from Australia to build a tractor, which it had already accomplished in July 1908. The Imperial Oil Tractor delivered 20 hp. through a three-speed transmission. The tractor offered such advances as separate enclosed transmission and differential cases for protection against the harsh Australian elements, and a plunger-type water pump that forced cooling fluid to thwart Australian extreme temperatures.

World’s Biggest 2WD

Australian innovation wasn’t confined to early tractor development. Starting in the 1960s, New South Wales manufacturer Carl Upton was building modern machines for use on the vast farms of that state. Much like American agriculturalists, Aussie farmers couldn’t get enough power. Upton responded by building continually larger two-wheel-drive (2WD) tractors. The crowning achievement was introduced in 1976.

The Upton HT-14/350 ran with a 350 hp. diesel paired to a 14-speed transmission.

Equipped with a 350-gallon fuel tank (made of 1-inch-thick plate steel), the HT-14/350 was then – and still is – the largest 2WD tractor ever built.

Furthermore, when it was introduced, the tractor sold for $53,000 (Australian), which made it nearly $15,000 cheaper than the imported Case 2870, a front-wheel-drive tractor with less horsepower.

4WD Innovations, Too

Not that Australian four-wheel-drive (4WD) tractors were lacking. Several Aussie-made 4WD machines bearing names like Acremaster, Baldwin, and Waltanna enjoyed some popularity in the 1970s and 1980s.

It is early Australian tractor development that is amazing, however.

For example, although steam traction engines never enjoyed the popularity in Australia that they did in North America, it was a Down Under innovator, Thomas Quinlivan, who created the first (and maybe only) four-wheel-drive steam engine. The unique machinery employed a series of gears and chains to transfer power to the steerable front wheels as well as the rear rims of the Quinlivan steam traction engine.

In 1910, Caldwell-Vale Motor Company of Sydney built a farm vehicle that was not only 4WD but also had four-wheel steering. The purpose of this innovation was to provide access to the rough backcountry of Australia.

Subsequent to the success of that car, the firm brought out a 4WD truck as well as a tractor a full decade before such innovations were seen on American farms.

Road-Racing Tractors

A cornucopia of Australian advances was added through innovative machines bearing names like Sunshine, Vickers-Aussie, Howard (of rotary hoe fame), and Chamberlain.

If that last name sounds familiar, it may be that you recall a team of Chamberlain collectors driving across the U.S. three years ago as a re-enactment of the famed Tail-End Charlie run.

Named for a high-speed version of the Chamberlain tractor, the machine ran the 11,000-mile Redex Round Australia Trial in 1957.

Just leave it to the Australians to make road-racing tractors.