THIS weekend the Hamilton Pastoral Museum will be a sea of orange as it celebrates the success of an Australian invention, the Howard rotary hoe.

The Howard name became regarded as the Mercedes Benz of market garden machinery, but it came from humble beginnings when 16-year-old teenager, Arthur (Cliff) Howard, began experimenting with rotary tillage on his parents’ farm at Gilgandra, NSW.

The teenager built a prototype in 1912, using rotating discs driven by his father’s steam tractor engine to cut weeds and plants with their roots and mix these in with the soil to produce better growing conditions than convectional ploughing.

Cliff Howard was first to achieve commercial success with the powered rotor to cultivate soil, marketing his first rotavator in 1922; he was soon exporting hoes around the world.

Howard enthusiasts will be bringing examples from their prized collections to Hamilton in recognition of the remarkable story.

One of the highlights will be the only running Howard A16 three-wheeler in the world.

Matt Vella, from the Sydney Antique Machinery Club, will be bringing a truck load of Howard items from his collection, including his prized tractor.

Just 50 of the A16 three-wheels tractors were built between 1926 and 1928 and powered by a Morris 16 horsepower commercial engine.

“I managed to obtain the A16 from a deceased estate,” Matt said.

“It was originally built for sugar cane but modified for hoeing at some stage.”

Matt’s grandfather was a market gardener, and he only began collecting Howards 15 years ago.

“I try to incorporate a holiday in with my collecting,” Matt said, perhaps as a means of pacifying his wife.

He said his wife just tolerates his obsession, which has already been drawing in his sons (9, 7 and 4 years old) with their own Howard collectable that they are playing with (restoring?).

But the weekend is not just about Howards, the competition ploughing teams from Colac and Gippsland will be on site honing their skills throughout the weekend, and the miniature railway will also be providing rides for kids of all ages.

The museum will open its doors to the vast array of historic collections, including tractors and farm machinery, stationary engines, the blacksmith shop, horse-drawn wagons and buggies, household items and much more.

A working demonstration of an historic binder, producing sheaves which will then be fed into a Cliff and Bunting chaff cutter to produce feed for horses.

Gates open from 10am to 4pm and the Grand Parade commences at 2pm.

Entry is $10 per adult, $15 for a family and children under 16 are free.

Food and soft drinks will be available for purchase throughout the weekend.