Historical information

Ploughing is a major part of soil conservation, and until 1945, it was mainly done with the aid of horses.

The plough cuts into the soil with a coulter, and is followed by the share. The latter digs deeper and pushes up the soil which is then turned over by the mould board. This buries weeds, and exposes the soil to the elements whilst creating a furrow.

The stump jump plough was initially invented and developed by two brothers, Richard Bowyer Smith and Clarence Herbert Smith, on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia in the 1870s. A lot of the farming land in this country was cleared from natural bush through extremely hard manual work and burning. Often there would be residual stumps and roots in the soil which played havoc with long-standing traditional ploughing equipment. The stump jump plough was designed to lift over the obstruction and down again and continue ploughing the soil. It was hailed as a revolutionary change in the way Australian farmers ploughed their land.

Physical description

Unpainted metal stump jump plough with information signage