It is going to clamour and clatter with lots of smoke coming from rusty old machines at the Henry Parkes Museum on Sunday when history will be brought back to life. The annual Smoke, Rust and Noise Day of the museum and 50th anniversary celebration, promises to be a ruckus of an event that will make any machine lovers’ hair stand on end with pleasure.
The museum’s collection includes some of the most valuable antique machinery in Australia including tractors, harvesters and agricultural equipment and other engines and trucks. “All the old machines need to be crank
started that requires a lot of energy and fitness, but it is half of the fun for the machine lovers,” said President of the Parkes & District Historical Society, Yvonne Hutton.
She said the Sunshine Harvester, which gained a reputation as the first successful combine harvester in Australia, would be one to look out for, while the great, big Petter engine is a good smoke producer. Members of the Mumbil Machinery Group will be bringing some small engines and assist with the start up.
Inside the museum a much cleaner and quieter display of four generations of wedding gowns will be on show ranging from 1919 to 2005. The picnic train will run for the kids, the Armstrong Siddeley Car Club will have 20 cars on display and the 50th birthday cake will be cut at 1:30pm after a barbeque lunch at 12:15pm that can be purchased
as part of the fundraising efforts of the day.
For $5 entry, you can enrich your life with the wonders of history from 9:30am.