H. V. McKay

Hugh Victor McKay (21 August 1865 – 21 May 1926) was an Australian industrialist who is known for heading the company that developed the Sunshine Harvester, arguably the first commercially viable combine harvester. He subsequently established the Sunshine Harvester Works, which became one of Australia's largest manufacturers of agricultural equipment.

Early life HV McKay Harvester on display at the Campaspe Run Rural Discovery Centre, Elmore, Victoria, Australia.

McKay was born the fifth child of a family of twelve near Drummartin, between Elmore and Raywood, Victoria. His parents were Irish Protestants from Monaghan in Ulster who 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 combine harvesters in California. 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. 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.

Sunshine Gardens 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. 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.

H. V. McKay Memorial Gardens are named for him.

Family The aviator Cecil Newton McKay was a son.