Although it is a situation that comes up every so often, I am always surprised to learn how deeply a vintage tractor can become embedded in the life and history of a person or family. After all, tractors are basically workhorses, built to carry out heavy farm work. They are meant to be purely functional devices, but sometimes they get entangled in their owner’s memories and become treasured reminders of times past.

All this went through my mind on a recent visit to the Albany area, on the south coast of Western Australia, about 420km from Perth. I met John Francis, a retired farmer who owns a nicely restored 1939 Massey-Harris Red 25. As he told me the story of the tractor, it became clear that the machine had played a role in many important stages of his life.

On The Farm