FOWLER STEAM TRACTION ENGINE

(Correct nomenclature: "Steam Ploughing Engine”)
"WA Fowler Ploughing Engines"
By Phil Wyndham, Rossmoyne, WA

Only two steam ploughing engines ever came to W.A. as far as everybody can make out from the records. These were a pair of Fowler 16nhp ploughing engines #5872 and #5873, single cylinder (11 1/4 inch or 286 mm bore by 12 inch or 305 mm stroke), built in 1889.

They were ordered by Mr. T.W. Powell, who was an English businessman and investor who had been chairman of the W.A. Land Company a company set up to build and run the railway from Beverly to Albany in exchange for Land Grants. After the railway was completed in 1889, Mr. Powell resigned from the company and bought two Estates - Eastwood of 5000 acres about 10 km out of Albany and Martinup, 25,000 acres at Pallinup, about 30 km east of Broomehill. It was Mr. Powell’s intention to develop these estates and then divide them up for sale or lease in smaller lots.

STEAM TRACTION ENGINE BEING USED BY E.M. STEERE 
TO EXCAVATE DAM AT KATANNING WATER SUPPLY IN 1904             #1

Image by C. W. Booty

Mr. Powell ordered the two ploughing engines on the advice of a person who had seen what the ploughing engines were doing in the Eastern States and considered they would be the best equipment to clear and cultivate the land for him. The two engines were ordered complete with the following implements -

a. Four furrow Fowler Cuban patent plows (16” furrows).

b. Fowler patent turning cultivator, capable of cultivating 15 to 30 acres per day.

c. Steam harrows; harrows and rolls from 40 to 50 acres per day

The engines and implements cost over £4000 ($8000)in 1898.

Shipment

They left John Fowler’s works at Leeds England on July 30, 1889 and we’re loaded aboard the SS Nairnshire bound for Albany. The engines and implements was sent in a knockdown form to be reassembled at Albany as the engines weighed over 17 ton each. It was late October 1889, when the ship arrived at Albany. The engines and implements were then assembled under the supervision of Mr. Petty, an engineer, who had been employed by Fowlers but was now employed by Mr. Powell.

By November 11 the two engines had been assembled and tested and it just remained for the implements to be assembled. Once the implements were assembled, the engines and implements set off for the Eastwood estate under their own steam.

Working

On Friday November 22, a large invited party of Albany residents went by train to the Eastwood estate to see the engines and ploughs in action. Quite a bit of clearing had been done on the estate and brick buildings had been built near the railway line. The Eastwood estate was named after the manager in charge (the grandfather of Stan Eastwood of Gnowangerup)

The ploughing was being carried out 10 inches deep and it was estimated the cost of clearing and plowing the land was 17/6 per acre. A 100 acre section of the estate was being developed initially as a model dairy and market garden and a test area for different types of crops to see which was most suited to the ground and area. The clearing would continue on the remainder of the estate while these trials took place. The eventual idea was to subdivide the estate into 40 acre lots for sale or lease.

The 100 acre section appears to have produced good results initially and the English grass that was sown, especially “cocksfoot” seem to have flourished so everyone had high expectations of the estate.

In December 1891, a large Fowler steam ditcher arrived that could cut a ditch 3’6” deep at one pass.

It was claimed to be the last largest ditcher in the in world at that time.

This was used to provide drainage ditches for some of the estate which was low lying.

Although Eastwood state lots were offered for sale very few sold mainly because the estate did not live up to expectations.

This was put down to the fact that the ploughing was too deep at 10 inches for the shallow topsoil of the area, bringing the sub soil up to the top in which very little would grow. The estate was eventually abandoned in the late 1890s and it apparently took quite a long time for the bush to regrow and cover the abandon buildings and rusting farm machinery.

Scrub clearing

I have not been able to find out much about the engines between the late 1890s and 1912 other than they were Moved to the Martinup estate. The initial problem with moving the engines to Martinup was to provide sufficient water for the journey and for enough dams to be built at Martinup to provide water for the engines.

After success in Victoria using traction engines for scrub rolling, it was decided to experiment here in West Australian in the Gnowangerup/Ongerup area which was being opened up for settlement.

The Gnowangerup-Ongerup group settlers were faced with a difficult task of clearing dense moort and mallee thickets.

The axe was required to clear much of this. Some scrub rolling had been carried out using horses but the settlers were reluctant to use horses because of the poisonous nature of the timber and the constant danger of getting horses staked. The clearing was therefore extremely slow and the Department of Agriculture decided a better way had to be found, hence the experiments.

The experiments were found to be an outstanding success. At 12 nhp engine known as “Little Nell” was used in experiments. I have been unable so far to find any further details of this engine.

The West Australian government bought both Fowler ploughing engines for the Agricultural Department in June 1912 to use for scrub rolling. One engine was purchased from Mr. Steere, who was the manager of Martinup for £430 and the other from the Rae Bros. of Broomehill for £642.

A Mr A. Helling, who had previously been employed by the Victorian Government on the steam engines clearing the mallee in Victoria, had the job of preparing the engines for their new role.

STEAM TRACTION ENGINE FITTED WITH BOTRILL PEDRAIL WHEELS           #2
 

The factor that made scrub rolling practical by steam traction engines was the use of the Bottrill pedrail wheels to stop the engines becoming bogged in the soft sand.

The Bottrill pedrail was patented by Mr. Bottrill in Victoria in 1906 and has “an improved wheel for vehicles and traveling machines in sandy conditions”. They were first used on a steam traction engine in Victoria in 1907. Basically the pedrail system consisted of a series of bearers around the rim of a wheel and attached to the wheel by system of “U” bolts and wire ropes. This allowed the bearers to move in relation to the wheel and kept them from rotating with it.

As the wheel rotates, it places one of the bearers on the ground which forms a substantial flat bed and prevents the wheel from sinking. The best known vehicle with the Bottrill Pedrail wheels is ‘Big Lizzie’. The engines had all their ploughing gear removed and the rear wheels were converted to Bottrill pedrail type. They also had strong push bars fitted at the front for pushing over trees. To begin with, the engines hauled a 50 foot (15.25m) long 8”x 6” (200 x 150) steel “H” girder fitted on three 6’ (1.80m) diameter wheels and attached by very strong wire ropes. Two, girder two rollers (old Cornish boilers) were pulled for breaking up and rolling flat the fallen scrub from behind. This proved satisfactory in lightly scrubbed country but in the more dense scrub with more trees, it did not work so well and put a tremendous strain on the engines. The “H” girder was reduced to 30’ (9.15m) and a special frame developed to put the strain on the girder and take it off the ropes. Clearing in such heavy country had never been undertaken before and therefore was experimental.

It became necessary to strengthen parts of the engines as they were continually climbing over 2’ (600 mm) diameter fallen trees. Unfortunately a lot of time was lost through breakdowns. The nearest heavy workshop was in Perth over 400km away and at that time the nearest railway was over 50km away. It was 1914 before the railway reached Gnowangerup and all the parts had to be carted by horse and cart to the railway at Broomehill. The engines also had to move about quite a bit, because they could only operate where dams have been sunk and sufficient water was available.

The engines reduced the cost of clearing by over 50%. When the work was done by man and horse only about 2 acres a day could be cleared in good country and a lot less in heavy country. The steam engines cleared between 35 and 60 acres a day depending on the type of country. The clearing was also much cleaner than by hand and after the rolled scrub had been burnt, the land was ready for ploughing, where asby hand it could take a further 12 months to remove the stumps and make the land ready for production. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, over 11,200 acres had been cleared. Most of it in the Ongerup district. The outbreak of World War I virtually bought work to a halt because of the shortage of labor.

Comment

In hindsight, the Agricultural Department felt it would have been better and cheaper to have purchased specially built traction engines, rather than convert engines which weren’t designed for that type of work. They were already 23 years old and suffered many breakdowns. The pedrail wheels as first fitted proved to be in adequate and I had to be altered to make them workable for the rough work they were doing. In one month they had to renew two bent 7” diameter rear axles.

It is surprising the amount of punishment the engines must have taken and that they accomplished as much as they did and still survive today. From the beginning of the First World War on, the story is still very sketchy. A lot more research will be necessary to finalize the story correctly. At present all I know for certain is that the engines were purchased from the Government and after the end of World War 1 by a Douglas Banks who farmed at Borden. He restored one of the engines and you used it for clearing his own land, Stone’s land and some of Carpenter’s land. The restored engine was sold circa 1929 to a Mr. Woollett of Pingerup, who could then not pay for it. Both Engine still survive. #5872 belongs to the Gnowangerup Historical Society and has just been repainted and now stands on display next door to the Gnowangerup Shire office. #5873 is now owned by Barrie Lehman of Bindi Bindi, where it lies in a paddock.

Please note this was written in 1990. Since then the ownership of the #5873 has changed.

STEAM TRACTION ENGINE AT AYLMORE'S  PROPERTY
Left - Right:  A.E. AYLMORE (Jnr), TOM O'DEA, Mrs. O'DEA and  Jim (Steam Traction Engine Mechanic)               #3
 

 STEAM TRACTION ENGINE           #11
WATER BEING DELIVERED TO THE ENGINE BY HORSE AND CART.
DOUGLAS BANKS ON THE CART AND CHAPMAN CLEMESHA ON THE ENGINE 1920s
 

After one of these steam traction engines was found abandoned of the Aylmore farm, a decision was made to restore it and put it on display in the Gnowangerup town centre in recognition of the part these machines made in the development of the area for farming.

STEAM TRACTION ENGINE           #4
 

 STEAM TRACTION ENGINE           #5
 

STEAM TRACTION ENGINE BEING SHIFTED FOR RESTORATION            #6
 

 STEAM TRACTION ENGINE BEING SHIFTED FOR RESTORATION            #7
 

STEAM TRACTION ENGINE BEING SHIFTED FOR RESTORATION            #8
 

 STEAM TRACTION ENGINE BEING  RESTORATED            #9
 

STEAM TRACTION ENGINE AFTER RESTORATION  NEXT T0 THE SHIRE COUNCIL OFFICES              #10
 

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

References:                 Article:      Phil Whyndam
                                                 Clem Clemesha

                                  Image:     1     C. W. Booty
                                                  3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8  10
                                                  2     Internet
                                                  9     Mr. Walmsley Senior
                                                  11  Clem Clemesha

Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2024