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Hugh Victor McKay (H. V. McKay) , (born 21 August 1865 and died 21 May 1926) was an Australian inventor of the Sunshine Harvester and industrialist. H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens are named for him. ==Early life== McKay was born the fifth child of a family of twelve near Drummartin, between Elmore and Raywood, Victoria. His parents were protestant immigrants from Monaghan, Ireland and arrived in Victoria in 1852. His father, Nathaniel McKay had been a stonemason and then a miner, before becoming a farmer around the end of 1845. Hugh attended Drummartin Primary School, and received some education from his father Nathaniel, before returning to the farm at 13. In 1883 he read about the Californian combine harvester. With his brother John and his father he built a prototype stripper-harvester by January 1885 and patented the Sunshine Harvester on 24 March 1885, which revolutionised wheat harvesting and sold throughout the world. Although he lost a Victorian Government prize for the first working stripper-harvester to James Morrow in 1885, he successfully commercialised his invention, and had them built under contract in Melbourne and Bendigo. In 1888, he opened a working factory in Ballarat. In 1891 he married Sarah Irene Graves. He later acquired the Braybrook Implement Works, and renamed it the Sunshine Harvester Works after his Sunshine Harvester. Subsequently in 1907, the residents of Braybrook Junction voted to rename the suburb Sunshine. The plant was expanded rapidly and at its peak employed nearly 3000 workers. It was the largest factory in Australia and as an example of entrepreneurship has probably not been surpassed in Australia. In 1909 the Sunshine Gardens were developed to provide an amenity for the employees of the Sunshine Harvester Works.> Designed by the assistant city engineer at Ballarat Mr F. A. Horsfall and laid out by head gardener S. G. Thompson, the eight-acre Gardens were sited alongside the factory and incorporated recreation facilities and popular horticultural displays.〔〔Bampton, B., 'H. V. McKay Gardens, Sunshine: an industrial garden 100 years on’, ''Australian Garden History'', 21 (3), 2010, pp. 10–15.〕 According to Bill Bampton, the Gardens included tennis courts and pavilion, a bandstand, a bowling green, a substantial house for the head gardener, a conservatory and associated works areas.〔 Under inaugural curator Thompson (1909–27), and curators James Willan (1930–39) and Harold Gray (1939–50), the Gardens developed a reputation for its chrysanthemums and dahlias, attracting workers and their families, as well as other local residents.〔 In 1953, the management of Sunshine Gardens was handed to the newly established City of Sunshine. At this time, it was renamed the H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens.〔〔 In the 1990s, the garden was listed by the National Trust of Australia and in the Register of the National Estate. In 2007 the Friends of McKay Gardens was formed to help maintain the gardens.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hugh Victor McKay」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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