Australia has a gigantic 11 meter statue dedicated to a tractor. Because? Because Australia

When we talk about megaconstructions, we are referring to large works such as a canal of more than 100 kilometers, buildings more than two kilometers high or impossible bridges. But a megaconstruction is anything that goes out of the ordinary. Australia has understood this perfectly, so much so that its most notable recent work is an 11-meter-high tractor.

Tradition. We have seen big, very big tractors, and surely the John Deere brand sounds familiar to you (they are those green agricultural vehicles). What may not sound so familiar to you are the Chamberlain. In 1949, Chamberlain Industries began manufacturing tractors tailored to the needs of Australian farmers. They were very popular and several models very loved by farmers came out of their factories.

The company attracted so much attention that John Deere became interested in it in 1970 and, from 1980, Chamberlain became a subsidiary of the giant. However, things began to go wrong over the next few years as there was a drop in demand and, in 1986, Chamberlain stopped manufacturing tractors.

Megatractor. Chamberlain’s first model was called the 40K because of its two opposed 40-horsepower engines. 75 years later, that Chamberlain 40K comes back to life majestically on a scale five times larger. Unfortunately, this 11.5 meter high and 16 meter long tractor is not functional, since it is a statue, but its dimensions and logistics are impressive.

Beyond the size, what draws attention are the tires. Bob Lukins is a retired farmer who has been dreaming of this giant tractor for years and account to The Guardian that everyone asks about tires. The truth is that they are a trompe l’oeil: they are not real tires, but a very successful steel structure.

dream come true. Lukins is one of the founding members of the Antique Tractor and Machinery Association of Western Australia (or Tracmach), which was formed in 1981 and has more than 600 members. In 1986, just when Chamberlain stopped making tractors, they began to hatch the idea: what if we put a giant tractor somewhere in the wheat fields of Western Australia? This would not only be a tourist attraction, but a tribute and a meeting point in the association’s field days.

Throughout these years, the idea did not leave their minds and they asked for subsidies, but they were all denied. However, something changed when, six years ago, they contacted an engineer named Frank Kidman who accepted the assignment.

a fortune. The farmer comments that Kidman waived the $20,000 that the design cost, but the association had to provide what was necessary to make the model and plans. So, without thinking twice, Tracmach got a Chamberlain 40K and parked it on the terrace of the engineer’s house. Once that was done, the rest was a matter of time and money.

Kidman measured every part of the tractor (every single one of them) and multiplied its size by five. A team of 60 people worked on the construction for the next 17 months and, once everything was done, they delivered a project that had to be transported in six trucks. The cost of the project? $750,000. ,

The question is why not. Carnamah is the home of this huge tractor and basically the town has one street and houses on the sides. In 2021, 314 people were registered and the name means “cattle mound”. The driving force of this tiny city in the west of the country is wheat cultivation, being notably important in this task. And the importance of this particular model is because it was larger and heavier than the tractors that were in the country at that time, which made it ideal for the soil conditions of Western Australia.

There are missing letters to pay. Now, although Tracmach is surely happy with her long-awaited toy, there is still money to pay. Thanks to different actions, they raised $600,000 (from private and corporate donations), but there is still a little way to go until they reach $750,000. “We need to raise a little more money,” says Lukins.

Now I can only think of one thing: the moment when Saudi Arabia realizes this and someone orders an even bigger tractor to be built. And functional, of course.

Image | Carnamah Police

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