Rare 1948 diesel Minneapolis-Moline 65hp tractor, first start-up in 12 months.

Second edition (10/12/2021) 415Mb PDF ISBN# 978-0-9875368-7-7 (350 page, high res: book)
Book title: 'Port Fairy, the Mahogany Ship and the Lost History of the Belfast Shire'
Sub title: 'John Ryan, Twenty Five Good Men and the Unknown Contractor: a Story Sixty Five Years in the Telling'
Gumroad link: https://www.gum.co/portfairy
Introduction: Of an ongoing bloody-minded palimpsest of epic proportions: this story started in 2009, with author Ian Geddes: a self-taught agricultural engineer and inventor, researching a brief background of the historical working life or ‘career’ of his recently restored vintage tractor; he soon found the story had other ideas.
The war was over, in late 1948: the Belfast shire had mysteriously taken delivery of a revolutionary, 65 horsepower, English, 1948 Minneapolis Moline tractor; manufactured by Henry Meadows Pty Ltd, the tractor was secretly imported by an ‘unknown contractor’ in order to power the shire’s rock crushing plant in its capacity as a stationary engine.
For the next 14 years, and employing the services of over 30 ancillary staff: in the process of producing 100,000 tonnes of crushed material for the all the region’s roads, the ‘Meadows’ fulfilled a pledge made by Shire Engineer John Ryan to provide a sealed road to the front gate of every residence in the shire.

Foreword:
Delving deeply into the historical workings and machinations of the small western district township of Port Fairy and its Shire Council (Belfast) in Victoria, Australia. As he celebrates the contributions of the charismatic, and enigmatic: Shire Engineer and Shire Secretary John Patrick Ryan, who served the Belfast Shire with distinction from 1941 to 1972; Ian unearths a previously untold trans-generational palimpsest of colonial Australia’s early settlement on the shipwreck coast.
A tale of truly extraordinary human endeavor, vision, individual and collective enterprise, and so much more: the story of John Ryan, is also the story of the Mahogany Ship, Australia’s oldest unsolved maritime mystery.That the 2021 revised edition contains a plethora of historical maps, it is of one particular map (Fig: 8) hidden in the Public Records Office of Victoria for over 140 years, the mystery of the long ‘lost’ Mahogany Ship may very well be solved.
Because of a very rare 1940’s vintage English Minneapolis Moline UDM tractor, and thousands of hours of research: a trans-generational palimpsest of systemic colonial corruption is uncovered. Such was the fate of the long lost Mahogany Ship: once the vessel was out of sight, and out of mind; in a trans generational, bloody minded slight of staggering proportions: its location was historically contrived to stay that way.
In other words: the ‘Mahogany Ship’ has never actually been lost, as much as it was ‘simply allowed to disappear’.
After 180 years: is the location of the ‘Ancient Wreck’ about to be confirmed?
Twelve years ago, when I first started researching the life and times of John Ryan back in 2009. I had absolutely no idea it would lead me to seriously investigate Australia’s oldest unsolved maritime mystery: the legendary ‘Mahogany Ship’ which was purportedly located ‘well inland, and deep in the hummocks’ somewhere between Warrnambool, and Port Fairy. Like most people, I was a confirmed sceptic: if it was seen by so many people in the 1830’s, albeit almost completely covered with drifting sand; why, and how: could the historic location of such a substantial object come to be so comprehensively ‘lost’ for the next 180 years?
Amidst much disinformation, that persuasive and conclusive evidence has now been uncovered as to why the ‘ancient wreck’ as it was described in Charles Joseph Latrobe’s diary in the 1840’s: has never been rediscovered after permanently disappearing from sight ‘under the shifting sands’ shortly after his visit to Warrnambool and Port Fairy at the time. As a result of thousands of hours of research: it has been conclusively determined that the position of the wreck has never actually been lost, as much as it was simply allowed to ‘disappear’; that the wreck had disappeared under the shifting sands by the late 1840’s: a multiplicity of ‘palimpsestic’ historical events were conspired to ensure it stayed that way.
True facts of the matter be known, the precise location of the ‘ancient wreck’ is the Australian Freemason Society’s oldest, and most fiercely guarded secret that goes right back to the day Charles Joseph Latrobe was appointed the first Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Victoria in 1851.
Palimpsest: An historic document or manuscript, completely materially erased: rewritten, or meaningfully altered.
The Australian version of the Mary Rose: possibly.
A real life: murder mystery?
Time will tell.
Enjoy: