Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

JOHN ROSMAN is one of the volunteers at the Nambour Museum who works tirelessly to recreate working machines of a bygone era. In John’s case it is restoring tractors and engines of our mechanical past.

John is currently refurbishing a 1917 Fordson tractor – machines that were sold to farmers by Henry Ford around the world, and were made to last.

“These wheels are the heaviest I have ever handled,” says John, a retired mechanic. “They are solid steel and I wondered why they were so heavy until an old farmer explained. He said you’d often hit a hillside and the front would come up. So that’s why Henry Ford made the front wheels so heavy …to keep the front down.”

John hopes to get the old Fordson running again if he can find the right magneto.

“Someone nicked the magneto off the engine. But a British visitor came in recently and he became so enthusiastic that he said, John, I will go back to England and source a magneto for you.”

John’s lifelong commitment to mechanics and transport led him back to the museum after he retired.

“One of my thrills three years ago”, says John with a nostalgic look in his eye, “was to look at this poor old dear all covered in rust. And I thought I would love to renovate you and put a new coat of paint on you. Then I saw a little ad in the local paper asking for volunteers, and I thought, well I’ve got the time. So, now I’m fulfilling a dream. “

For all enquiries phone the Nambour Museum secretary Barbara on 5441 2119.
The museum is open Wednesday and Saturday 1-4pm. Adults $3. Children $2.
More detail is available on the Museum website at www.nambourmuseum.org.au

John (above) with his latest mechanical renovation – a 1917 Fordson tractor, and (left) in his workshop underneath the Nambour Museum.