September 17, 2012
Tractor Tattoo has made the farmer’s friend the flavour of the month around the South Burnett, so it’s no wonder this year’s Kingaroy & District Vintage Machinery Club Rally at the Kumbia Sportsgrounds over the weekend was bigger and better than ever.
In fact, it was the “biggest and best ever” according to President Jeff Barbeler and Secretary Andrew Rackemann, who estimate that more than 800 people came through the gates on Saturday alone.
The two-day rally was officially part of Tractor Tattoo and was promoted alongside the arts event held in Kingaroy on Saturday night.
However the tractors at Kumbia weren’t of the musical variety – these tractors meant business!
Collectors of vintage equipment came from all over south-east Queensland to show off their carefully restored machines, including Bundaberg, Maryborough, Pine Rivers and Toowoomba.
This year’s Rally featured 125 tractors, 30 trucks, about 20 cars, a record number of stationery engines (“so many we had to expand the display space,” Jeff said) and many motorcycles, too.
This year’s event also celebrated 100 years since the invention of a motorised rotary hoe by Cliff Howard in Moss Vale, NSW.
There were displays of huffing and puffing stationery engines doing everything from pumping water to processing miniature hay bales; farm equipment such as corn huskers and threshers; and even tractor hay-rides for the children.
Sled pulling events and “slow” tractor races were popular, as was the display of vintage chainsaws.
And to keep the non-machinery types happy, there was a variety of market stalls on the ground.
The Show’s canteen was run by the Kumbia State School P&C and the gate was manned by volunteers from the Kumbia Kindy, who were run off their feet for large parts of the weekend.
“These groups give us tremendous help every year and we’re very pleased to help them back with donations,” Jeff said. “We really couldn’t do this without them.”
The Kingaroy and District Machinery Club has also invested about $40,000 into improvements to the Sportsgrounds over the many years the Rally has been held there, including installing showers, a toilet block, a shade shed and upgrades to the kitchen.
“These all help us put on a better show,” Jeff said, “but they’re there all the rest of the year to help every other group that uses the Showgrounds too.”
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