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Bishop's 1929 Fitch Model D4 20-35 serial #1640

  Originally purchased by F.E. Bishop of Bando Station, Mullaley, Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia, this tractor is now on display at the Gunnedah Rural Museum along with the original owner's manual and correspondence relating to its purchase.

  Mr. Bishop ordered a Fitch Four Drive Tractor with the Sydney Auto Truck Company in Brisbane instead of one of the numerous Australian-built tractors or the more popular McCormick tractors. He must have felt that the Fitch Four Drive would not get stuck in the sticky, self-mulching black soil of the North West Plains in Australia.

  Bishop's tractor was powered by a Climax K Series 4-cylinder engine (#8422) and was to develop 20 drawbar and 35 belt horsepower at 800 rpm. The tractor weighed 7,000 pounds when equipped with the cast wheels, solid tires and grader blade.

  The tractor was ordered with an optional center-mounted grader blade and industrial solid rubber tired cast wheels in addition to the standard steel lugged agricultural wheels. Bando Station had a large network of railroad tracks to maintain. Each time cattle or sheep were rounded up and driven by mounted stockmen along the tracks in wet weather, the surface became a sea of mud. When the hot sun reappeared, the mud baked into dangerous, rutted roadways which only a grader blade could smoothen.

Gunnedah Rural Museum is located on Mullaley Road (Oxely Highway) on the western side of the town of Gunnedah (population 8,800). Gunnedah is about 300 miles north of Sydney on the Oxley Highway. The Gunnedah Rural Museum is one of Australia’s largest collections of early agriculture and transport memorabilia and features many tractors manufactured in various countries that where used around the Gunnedah area. It is one of the largest museums of its type in Australia, occupying a massive area of some 14,614 square metres.
  The museum consists of a growing display of over 1600 exhibits, including:

  • Tractors

  • Steam engines

  • Antique farm machinery

  • Horse drawn and motorised vehicles

  • Household items

  • Communication equipment

  • Gun collection

  • RSL exhibit

  • Working foundry and timber workshop

  • The Grosser collection

  • Mining machinery

Address:
Gunnedah Rural Museum
Mullaley Road
Gunnedah, NSW, Australia 2380
Phone number: (02) 674 4690
Mr. Ronald Keech is the curator.

For more information, visit these four Internet websites:
The Golden Highway
Fairfax Walkabout Australian Travel Guide
Gunnedah Tourism
New South Wales Tourism

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