After years of planning and fundraising, the World’s Biggest Tractor has finally been unveiled in the Western Australian town of Carnamah
Standing at 11.5m tall, it is impossible to miss the World’s Biggest Tractor.
In a nation renowned for its ‘big’ structures that have helped to put various towns on the map, it was only fair a particular agricultural icon got its turn.
The Western Australian town of Carnamah, located about 300km north of Perth, is now the proud home of the World’s Biggest Tractor.
It was officially unveiled before a crowd of about 2,000 at a grand opening last month, which included a day of family fun and a vintage tractor parade.
Fittingly, the replica is of a Chamberlain 40K, a now-discontinued tractor which holds a significant place in WA’s history as the first tractor commercially produced in the state.
The dream has now been realised, with the project becoming reality and Carnamah now instantly associated with the big tractor, but the process to reach this point has been anything but instant.
Origin story
The project’s origins can be traced back almost 30 years, when Bob Lukins – the founding president of the Vintage Tractor & Machinery Association of WA – had the idea of honouring the Chamberlain 40K through a massive replica.
The association – better known as TracMach – now has John Piavanini as the president, and he was heavily involved in overseeing the project from concept to design stage, while engineer Frank Kidman donated about 450 hours doing working drawings. The Geraldton base of Diab Engineering then took over the design, fabrication and construction.
While Piavanini played a key role in making the project a reality, his hands-off approach during building meant he was able to experience a feeling of excitement when finally seeing it in person.
“After six years on the job, it was quite overwhelming,” he says.
“The biggest thing that that struck me was I followed it through from the first sketch on a bit of paper right through the build, right up until there was a picture of it outside of the factory at Geraldton.
“I never saw it again until I arrived in Carnamah the day before the launch and looked up and saw this great orange thing.
“I think the orange paint made it look twice as big as I’d imagined.”
More than $600,000 has been raised to turn the project into reality, with nearly all money coming from individuals and companies from across the state, along with contributions from the Shire of Carnamah and Midwest Development Commission.
Set backs along the way included rejections for other government grants, along with rising costs for both labour and materials during this time, but Piavanini says there was a moment where the organisers made a leap of faith, backed up some of its supporters, to finish the project.
“At about 90 or 100 grand short we decided to hit the start button and issue the order on the promise of some very loyal supporters who guaranteed to pay the bill, which has been done with interest free loans,” he says.
“We are still raising funds to pay those people back and that’s really helped us.”
While the project has now been unveiled, fundraising will continue for this purpose, but also to enhance the tourist experience of what is available.
“We need to get some more signage up, some more history and put a bit of seating around the site,” Big Tractor Committee chairman Brendon Haeusler says.
“Our budget was spent and our time was spent, but it will be a work in progress.
“It will be good to get a viewing platform as well one day so we can get up to the driving area, but that’s going to be a health and safety and engineering job in itself.”
The big day
Carnamah’s big moment in the spotlight was a full day event, which also included a Country Carnival.
Live music, food vans, children’s activities and a tractor pull all featured, along with a tractor parade of about 50 vintage Chamberlain tractors, of which about 20 came from Hal Walton’s dedicated museum, with others from private collections and 9G tractor club members.
The North Midlands Agricultural Society was responsible for organising the entertainment, and the group’s president Angela Dring says the positive atmosphere made for a successful day.
“It was just a happy day and everyone was getting into it,” she says.
“We had great stalls – all the sponsors set up a stall and TracMach had a stall there and the tractors were on display so people could see them.
“For the town and community of Carnamah it was a very positive event,
“We’ve had a really positive response and feedback about the day and what the tractor will bring for our community.”
Her sentiments were endorsed by Haeusler, who says the event “went extremely well”.
“Everyone seemed really happy with the end result of the tractor and we’ve just got a couple of finishing touches to go on the site such as putting up a shed up to house the original 40K that’s been donated to us as well,” he says.
“It’s going to be here forever, so for four years of work for us, it’s going to benefit Carnamah and the entire midwest region of WA for many, many years to come.”
The original 40K was donated by Dick and Barbara Garnett of Gnowangerup, who led the parade and will live onsite with the Big Tractor once its shelter is built.
Leaving a mark
Carnamah is located on the Midlands Road, which travels north of Perth through the northern parts of the Wheatbelt towards Geraldton, but Piavanini says this road has often been overlooked – with the World’s Biggest Tractor aiming to rectify this.
“Since that road was put in many years ago, you’ve got the Indian Ocean Drive and you’ve got the Brand Highway and the quickest way to get to Geraldton is up either of those two roads,” he says.
“Carnamah’s been the side track, so this will probably bring a lot of people, mainly the tourists, up through the Midlands Road again.
“It will be a big advantage to Carnamah I’m sure and they have a very good tourist wildflower season, so they’ve got something to put with their wildflower tourism promotion.”
Ideas are flowing plentifully in terms of how the tractor can be the catalyst for further tourist activity.
“There was some talk about the potential of building a tractor highway,” Dring says.
“We’re trying to bring people back inland and we’re thinking all the farms could put out their old tractors on the side of the road and create this tractor highway.
“I’m sure every farm’s got at least one of them hanging around here and there. We could put them out and add to our theme.”
Haeusler’s focus remains on finishing the tractor project, including housing the original tractor and sorting the signage and seating.
This is not to say grander ideas have not been floated.
“There’s also talk of a giant Chamberlain plough to go behind it, but I think we’ll just let the dust settle on this one before we go making any bold moves to build a giant plough,” he says.
The World’s Biggest Tractor is located in the Lions Park on Midlands Road, Carnamah.
Donations are still being accepted for the project’s finishing touches and can be made by visiting www.carnamah.com.au/donate