Only in OZ #14 - Tractor Monument, Wentworth, New South Wales



TE20 Harry Ferguson Tractor Monument, Wentworth

 In a parallel universe, the Australian government and public service pantheon would have been well placed to see first hand the effects of 'policies' governing the Murray Darling Basin in the capital Wentworth, at the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers.

BUT … while iconic Wentworth, once busiest inland port in the country, was one of several locations considered as potential Australian capital sites post Federation, it lost out to Canberra.  Australia thereby forever losing the opportunity to take the capital to the people … But I digress!


'Grey Fergie', Wentworth NSW



So, instead of a monument to forward-thinking AND acting (!!) politicians who developed an effective long term management strategy for regulating the Basin (yes, I'm still in that parallel universe!), Wentworth's monument is dedicated to the TE20 Harry Ferguson tractor.



The first monument to a tractor in the WORLD, it commemorates the vital part played by the 'grey Fergie' in protecting the town from destruction by the extraordinary 1956 flood that devastated downstream South Australian towns.


With their town under threat as floodwaters from both rivers headed straight for it, Wentworthians erected massive levee banks and stared the river down.

And at the forefront of this pre-emptive strike?

 The TE20 Harry Ferguson tractor, of course!! An actual 'grey Fergie' tractor greets visitors entering the town across the river – a much more showy monument to this humble farming implement than the small bronze cast of the original.


First Tractor Monument in the world!



But the first monument has its own significance – the height of its rock cairn matches the height the floodwater would have reached had the levee banks not been in place! As this unflattering shot (conveniently smaller than all others) shows …

Maybe it was just as well the Aussie capital wasn't Wentworth in 1956. With so many past and recent examples that demonstrate bureaucratic innovation, efficiency, flexibility and responsiveness to change, the only obstacle to the machinery of government working with the locals to save the nations capital would have been an oversupply of ideas, funding and volunteers.

But there I go … back into that parallel universe again!!



'Grey Fergie' Monument wording



*All pix by Pilchard