Motoring

In 1954 when Milton Randell was a young lad he watched fascinated as the man from Mawson's Engineering in Dargaville demonstrated to his dad, Herb, a David Brown 50TD which, back then, was the latest and greatest in tractor development.

At the time, he couldn't possibly have known three things. First, that he'd end up owning that 50TD, secondly that Mawson's would still be in business in 2014 and last, but not least because this is the crux of the story, Milton wouldn't just own that particular David Brown but dozens of other tractors as well.

In fact he owns 40 tractors all up plus 50 bulldozers, 15 stationary engines, a grader, 100 old chain saws dating from the 1900s, a miscellany of vintage farm equipment and other ageing memorabilia like beer bottles, milk bottles, old baking powder and tea tins. This entire collection has been gathered together over the past four or five years and is now housed in a massive purpose-built shed on Waimate North Road that's around half an acre large - 60 metres by 30 metres to be more precise and without intruding poles to hinder available floor space.

The Milton Randell Museum is open to the public but sort of unofficially. All the advertising is by word of mouth and word is getting around. Dean Halstead, who runs the museum and does the engineering restoration work, says visits by vintage car club people and schools are increasing each month and in the not-too-distant future the conference centre on site will be made more use of and - this is getting modern in the world of vintage machinery - they are starting a website to encourage more visitors
including tourists.

Mr Randell has spent an adult lifetime involved with 'dozers and tractors, starting by working with his father. He bought a dairy farm in Dargaville and began digging up swamp kauri in the Kaipara and exporting it to China. He sold both the digger business and the farm a few years ago and began buying the vintage machinery which had to sit in various paddocks around Kerikeri until the museum shed took shape in 2010 - and he did most of the site work on that too.

He has always had an interest in older engineering equipment and was a founding member of the Vintage Machinery Club based in Dargaville.

The collection which sits in Waimate North Road is not there solely because of his altruism but because he and others like him believe that if someone doesn't do it, a great deal of New Zealand's agricultural history will be lost. Dean Halstead suggests it has already happened.

"If this equipment wasn't saved it would be sold as scrap and end up as a Hyundai car or something because scrap metal has now become a valuable commodity."

The greatest difficulty is sourcing parts although some of the large truck, tractor and bulldozer manufacturers are today starting to remake the parts they long ago shelved. The internet is a crucial tool in tracking down bits and pieces and now with the museum established, and those interested in old machinery know it exists, people are dropping off what might otherwise have been tossed away or melted down.