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| The Stump Jump | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Stump Jump |
| Type | Agricultural implement |
| Inventor | Richard Bowyer Smith; Clarence Herbert Smith |
| Country | Colony of South Australia; Australia |
| Introduced | 1870s–1880s |
The Stump Jump The Stump Jump is a mechanical agricultural implement originally designed to enable ploughing in heavily wooded and newly cleared regions by allowing the ploughshare to lift over obstacles and resume cutting without damage. It played a pivotal role in 19th-century Australian land development, influencing settler agriculture, colonial expansion, and subsequent innovations in farm machinery and patent law. The implement connected to figures and institutions across engineering, politics, and rural communities during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras.
The implement emerged amid land settlement and mechanisation debates involving Richard Bowyer Smith, Clarence Herbert Smith, South Australia, Victoria (Australia), New South Wales, South Australian Parliament, Australian Agricultural Company, and local squatters and selectors; it intersects with patent cases, parliamentary inquiries, and exhibitions such as the Melbourne International Exhibition, Adelaide Exhibition, and Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria shows. Inventive activity in this period also involved contemporaries like John Deere, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, International Harvester, Threshing machine makers, and colonial engineering firms. The implement influenced colonial infrastructure projects and connected to institutions like the University of Adelaide, CSIRO, and trade bodies including the Chamber of Manufactures.
Origins are commonly traced to trials on properties owned by J. R. Bowman, C. W. Bowman, and selectors around Yorke Peninsula, Mallee (Victoria), and Eyre Peninsula where stump-laden land obstructed ploughing. Patent activity involved submissions to the South Australian Patent Office, disputes resolved in Supreme Court of South Australia and commentary in newspapers such as the Adelaide Advertiser and The Argus (Melbourne). The Smith brothers exhibited prototypes at agricultural shows alongside innovations by Richard Trevithick-influenced engineers and drew attention from politicians including Charles Kingston and Thomas Playford. International attention reached delegates at events like the International Exhibition (1879) and engineers from Britain and United States reviewed designs related to ploughs used in North America and Europe.
The core mechanism comprised hinged shares, spring-loaded components, and fulcrum arrangements similar to articulated devices exhibited by makers related to Joseph Foljambe-style plough reforms and later developments by Harry Ferguson. The design incorporated elements comparable to reversible plough concepts championed at Royal Agricultural Society meetings and used metallurgical techniques taught at institutions like Royal School of Mines and University of Melbourne. Engineering descriptions invoked terms familiar to practitioners at Smithfield Works and mirrored innovations used by contractors engaged in projects such as the Overland Telegraph and Ghan (railway). The mechanism addressed problems highlighted in reports by surveyors from Department of Lands (South Australia) and agronomists advised by Department of Agriculture (New South Wales).
Multiple manufacturers produced variants, including firms in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and workshops tied to E. R. Smith & Sons and small foundries referenced in trade directories like those of the Victorian Manufacturers' Directory. Models ranged from single-furrow implements to multi-furrow teams designed to work behind draught animals and later motorised tractors by companies such as Fordson, Ferguson Company, International Harvester, and Case Corporation. Registrations and model lists appeared in catalogs alongside implements by Suttons Seeds and were demonstrated at agricultural shows including Royal Easter Show and regional field days in Mildura and Wagga Wagga.
The implement influenced settlement patterns in regions associated with names like Mallee, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, and Riverland, fostering communities documented in local histories of Victor Harbor and Renmark. It featured in oral histories collected by state libraries such as the State Library of South Australia and narrated by families linked to pioneering figures like John Ridley and George Fowler (industrialist). The tool appears in period literature and newspapers, and was celebrated in municipal events involving mayors of Adelaide, Melbourne, and Broken Hill. Its role intersects with policies from departments like the Crown Lands Office and organisations including the Victorian Farmers' Union and Australian Country Party.
Field trials and competitions occurred at agricultural shows run by bodies such as the Royal Agricultural Society of South Australia, Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Tasmania, and judged by figures from University of Sydney and Wool Research Organisation. Performance metrics compared soil turnover, draught force, and resilience against rocky and root-bound soils, paralleling contemporaneous tests of cultivators by engineers linked to CSIRO Division of Plant Industry and assessments in journals like The Australasian and The Illustrated London News. Competitors included ploughmakers from Scotland, Ireland, and United States, and demonstrations sometimes drew officials from railways like South Australian Railways and companies such as BHP for land reclamation projects.
Surviving examples are preserved in museums and collections including the South Australian Museum, National Museum of Australia, Museum of Victoria, local historical societies in Burra (South Australia), Kapunda, and technical museums like Powerhouse Museum. The implement's story informs studies at universities such as Flinders University and is the subject of exhibits curated with input from archivists at the National Library of Australia and conservationists at the Australian Heritage Commission. Its influence persists in modern reversible and safety plough designs used by agricultural contractors and tractor manufacturers at field days and in historic commemorations across Australian rural communities.
Category:Agricultural equipment