When the organisers of the Little Casterton working weekend were drawing up plans for the 2006 event, one of their pleas most certainly was "Bring Me Sunshine". Now, to most people, that would have meant good weather, and it obviously did, because the weekend was fine, dry and warm for its entirety, however, it also meant there was an abundance of Massey Harris Sunshine harvesting equipment to be seen on the field.

H. V. McKay Co. of Sunshine near Melbourne, Australia, were one of that country's leading agricultural manufacturers, having the largest industrial plant in Australia, known as the Sunshine Harvester Works. Their reputation was based on the machine Hugo Victor McKay designed at the age of 18 to combine the processes of stripping, threshing, winnowing and bagging of grain.

The company competed successfully in its local markets but had difficulty against the giant conglomerates of the United States. This came to a head in 1930 when Massey Harris acquired a share of the company, and started marketing its products around the world. Production finally stopped at Sunshine in the 1980s, after withdrawl by Massey Ferguson Iseki.

On show at Little Casterton were a variety of Sunshine products, including the 3-furrow Sunshine Stump Jump Disc Plough being demonstrated behind a Field Marshall tractor. This looked quite a complicated piece of equipment to set up with lots of levers and angles to set, but most impressive to look at in its smart red and yellow paint.

Another piece of Sunshine equipment on site was the Massey Harris Sunshine binder, towed by a matching Massey Harris Pacemaker tractor. This sail reaper binder cuts the corn and binds it into sheaves, dropping them on to the ground every few feet. These are collected by forking them on to a trailer and taking them away to be threshed. Nearby was a White Massey Harris threshing drum powered by a Wallis tractor, itself a forerunner of Massey Harris machines.

Next up was the newly restored Sunshine No 6 Stripper Header machine towed by a 1937 Massey Harris 4-wheel drive tractor. This was a very unusual machine, being quite compact in size and not very tall for a combine, powered by its own engine but with a seat out front over the drawbar dolly, presumably for steering the machine. Things have moved on a little here as the corn is now bagged on the machine and slid down a ramp, but you still have to come and collect the bags.

These two machines were ably supported by other Massey Harris harvesting equipment, including a 1941 self-propelled bagger machine and a later 1950 trailed combine. Bring me Sunshine with a smile, bring me laughter all the while .....