Our Spring Open Day on the October long weekend was excellent. Perhaps not as many park visitors attended as on some other occasions, but there was great interest nevertheless. The Chevrolet truck “Annie Lorrie” had starter troubles and needed to be crank started, and the Leyland Cub, the pride of the fleet, also developed a starter problem and ended up being towed and pushed at the end of the parade. This all makes things more interesting! The Bave-U engine had its debut, and is an interesting exhibit.
Our hot air engine ran faultlessly all day. This is one of our rarest artefacts and attracts much interest due to its most difficult to understand mode of operation. Its inventor, Stirling, patented the principle in the early 1800’s, and by the late 1800’s they were widely used for domestic water pumping, particularly in USA. They were obsolete by the 1920’s.
Our next open day will be on Australia Day, January 26 2020, which is a Sunday. Keep the day free and pay us a visit.
The 1918 International truck restoration has achieved another milestone of sorts, with the first finish colour “International red” paint being applied to the chassis, sub-frame and differential. I know I have featured a photo of the chassis previously, but now we really are at a turning point where we can start reassembly. We were able to obtain the paint to our colour specification both in bulk for spray painting, as well as pressure packs for the small parts. The following week we painted many minor chassis related items the same colour, and the steering box (it is black).
It is pleasing that many visitors now ask about the truck, having followed its progress through these pages.
The recent rains have transformed the Netherby gardens. All the roses have burst into bloom, and one genus (dear to my heart), is represented by both November lilies (lilium longiflorum) which will provide a mass of its fragrant white trumpet flowers soon, and tiger lilies (lilium lancifolium) which flower about Christmas. Both these lilies were once commonly grown in cottage gardens. Anyone wanting bulbs should let us know about Feb/March when they can be lifted. The Fagan Park museums and Netherby Homestead are open every Tuesday, our volunteering day, and we open the museums on the second Sunday each month during the afternoon. All visitors are welcome.
Contact me at the park on a Tuesday or phone anytime if you would like to join us.
Ian Browning, Honorary Curator, 0419 435 475.
