Conference Paper

Since colonial times in Australia, twenty-five local manufacturers have attempted to produce tractors for the Australian agricultural market, together with another nine makers of steam traction engines. Today only six indigenous tractor manufacturers survive. Between them they custom-build just a few dozen tractors a year. There are no longer any locally mass-produced tractors since Chamberlain John Deere ceased production in 1986. In the early 1950's, local tractor production reached several thousand units a year, to capture around one-fifth of the local market. Overall, production has been extremely variable, with the fortunes of manufacturers being closely linked to those of Australian farmers. Exports, which could have provided a buffer, were never a viable proposition for local tractor makers.