Words by Greg Bannon, photos by Lange Powell.
On the Mount St. Mungo nature drive that takes in the north-east section of Hiltaba, the track passes Trump Dam — named after a racehorse, “The Trump”, 1937 winner of the rare Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup double. Lying beside the track just past the dam were the disintegrating remains of an early 1900’s horse-drawn wagon, abandoned where it was last used decades ago.
In 2017, a group from Victoria stayed at Hiltaba as part of a trip through the Gawler Ranges. Their friendship links started at Dookie Agricultural College in 1966. One interest for this trip was to view Lake Acraman, an asteroid impact site about 590 million years ago.
The group’s shared interest in agriculture prompted the resident rotational managers at the time, Lange and Inara Powell, to show them around the station infrastructure including the woolshed. Passing the dump they noticed the old wooden wool press, discarded by previous owners and slowly decaying from exposure to the elements, termite attack and dismantled boards used for concrete formwork. The light-hearted comment, “someone should save the old girl”, set the wheels in motion to retrieve it and take it back to Warragul in Gippsland for restoration.
Project leader, Bob Gray, personally spent over 1000 hours on the restoration, plus the time of his team of helpers. He even purchased a similar press in better condition to use as a pattern for the Hiltaba one. Chris Reed was able to source and supply some key parts that were missing. The press was returned and set up in the newly renovated Hiltaba woolshed in April 2021.
It was on this trip that Bob (pictured below with the wagon) and his group became aware of the old wagon by Trump Dam. The successful restoration of the wool press led to an agreement being signed in September 2021, between Bob and the Nature Foundation Board to carry out a similar recovery of the wagon. The restoration group returned in April 2022, deconstructed it and loaded the parts on a trailer for the trip home.
Restoration actually became reconstruction because none of the original timber components were salvageable. The unique feature of this wagon was that the tyres, spokes, hubs and axles were all steel, running on patented twin-roller bearings. The advertising claim at the time was that “three horses could do the work of five”. It was made in the early 1900’s at the South Melbourne engineering works of RJL Hildyard, a well-known inventor and innovator of his era. The wagon had three models — 3-ton, 6-ton and 10-ton. The Hiltaba one is a 6-ton.
As with the wool press, Bob’s research was able to track down the remains of two of the same Hildyard wagons to measure and photograph. Both were in NSW, one just over the border at Finley, owned by Phillip and Lynda Snowden, and the other, near Conargo, in the Riverina, owned by Martin and Austen Driver. Bob is particularly grateful to both families who generously donated original parts that were missing from the Hiltaba wagon, greatly adding to its authenticity.
The completed wagon was returned to Hiltaba in October 2024 and installed under a newly constructed cover attached to the woolshed. It was an eagerly awaited event attended by several former rotational managers and friends, with apologies from others unable to attend, who had all been involved in the woolshed restoration. Board Director, Greg Limbert and his wife, Sonya, represented the Nature Foundation Board. It was an enjoyable get-together in the woolshed of Nature Foundation members, neighbours, Nick and Sue Pritchard from Kondoolka and “Bob’s mob” — the restorers and families from Victoria.
