About this objectThis Adamson’s Rotary Seed Sower was used by the Chapman family at Spring Hill during the 1890s. A photograph of George Barnet ‘G.B.’ Chapman and Charles Chapman operating the seeder on their family farm at Spring Hill accompanies the machine. The photograph illustrates the method of operation, with the seeder mounted on a two-wheeled wagon pulled by two horses. Invented in South Australia, the seeder’s presence in Central Western NSW is an indication of the success - and the contested nature - of agricultural innovation in the Australian colonies during the late nineteenth century. James Hazel Adamson’s Rotary Seed Sower saw success outside its home colony of South Australia, being demonstrated in Melbourne, and advertised in New Zealand, patented in the United States and operated in New South Wales. The seeder was subject to a patent dispute in 1880, as Alexander Williamson Dobbie objected to Adamson’s application on the grounds of its similarity to
Dobbie’s own patented (1877) Broadcast Seed Sower. The Adamson’s Rotary Seed Sower, along with the Dobbie’s Broadcast Seed Sower discussed above, is a reminder of the value placed on agricultural innovation in the colonies during the nineteenth century. Additionally, these items are testament to the extent of trans-Pacific trade in agricultural machinery.
Historically, the Adamson’s Rotary Seed Sower represents the work of a prominent agricultural innovator in nineteenth century South Australia and testifies to the vigour with which agricultural innovation was pursued and contested during the Victorian period. Aesthetically, the item displays features that represent significant technological advances on previous sowing methods. The Adamson’s Rotary Seed Sower, in contrast to the Dobbie’s Broadcast Seed Sower, is well-provenanced, as it is known that the item was manufactured by J.H. Adamson of Adelaide and owned and used by the Chapman family of Spring Hill during the 1890s (therefore within ten to twenty years after its invention. Together with the Dobbie’s Broadcast Seed Sower, this seed sower has a high level of interpretive capacity. The Rural Technology collection seeks to preserve and display examples of innovative agricultural technology and these seed sowers effectively illustrate not just the physical features of various items of technology but also cultural context in which innovation occurs.
