The Kerang Men’s Shed has been hard at work on the restoration of a billy cart that dates back to the 1920s.
This billy cart is not what you normally think of when one is mentioned.
A century ago, it was not uncommon for people to have goats in their backyards.
The billy cart is a wagon harnessed to a goat, often a billy goat, and used to carry goods, packages and even children.
They were also used in the long forgotten sport of goat racing.
Gavin Hardy was one of the men given the task of undertaking the restoration.
“We couldn’t re-use a single piece of wood that was originally on the cart, every piece of timber was rotten,” he said.
“There were a lot of metal brackets that were a part of the original cart, but there was a problem with them too.
“They were rusty and many were out of shape.
“All the bolts I had to cut off with an angle grinder.
“We cleaned up all the steel, then I painted all the steel and we started to put the cart back together.”
“I do two mornings a week and it took five weeks to complete the restoration.”
