THE Kerang Machinery Museum recently conducted the club’s open day exhibition on September 2.
The weather on that day was perfect for seeing the display of machinery and artefacts from the past, influencing the standard of living we enjoy today.
It was a credit to its members and the exhibitors for their work and effort in the machinery presentation.
Even if one is not that familiar with the machinery and how it works, one gains a great appreciation of the ingenuity that our early inventors and developers used to create machines and other devices that allowed a community such as Kerang and the surrounding area to prosper and develop as it has done.
With the current debate about climate change and its many other facets, much commentary tends to condemn anything that is using fuel or might be related to increased carbon output.
One only has to look around the machinery every day to see without such innovation that occurred in those early days, more importantly, the adoption by the people to use such machines to decrease the drudgery of manual work, while at the same time increasing wealth for the community as a whole and improve living standards quite dramatically.
Rural communities, particularly, have a lot to be thankful for the early machinery, from the arrival of steam-driven machines to today’s modern technology-driven equipment.
Each step in their development continues to create new opportunities for the owners, users and the wider community.
The efforts of the Kerang Museum are to be applauded along with many other museums for preserving our past, which has allowed us to have our future.
Undoubtedly, the operation of the Kerang Museum and many other organisations like it have provided opportunities for many men and women to continue to share the knowledge of skills from the past and develop new ones to preserve such machinery.
Another highlight of the day was music played by The Gay Chalmers Band.
Their music is an institution for old-time/new vogue dances and many other people who enjoy listening to their method of playing in the songs and tunes they create. Hopefully, Stuart Simms and Ron McFarlane’s effort to have the Gay Chalmers music further recorded, written down and stored historically, then shared with others, will continue. It has brought joy to many thousands of people.
Quotation: “It takes rain and sunshine to make a rainbow.”
No doubt, at times, the development use of some of the older machinery would have had to be difficult and would have gone through some rainy periods along with some great days of sunshine.
The result of that investment and use of machinery has made a rainbow for the families that took on new ideas, implemented them and shared the benefits with others.
Once again, I would like to congratulate the Kerang Museum and all associated with the display.
May there be many more and, more importantly, a further preservation and presentation of all that valuable machinery and associated items that are given so much through our lifetimes and contribute to the wellbeing of our community.
Congratulations on a job well done by the Kerang Museum.
Max Fehring
Cohuna
