Collection |
VFM (unaccessioned) General |
Date |
1860 |
Description |
Ransome & Sims Engineers Steam Engine 1852. Serial number 454 - patent number 3323, registered 7 July 1852 (see image 2), and manufactured at Ipswich, England in 1860 (see image 5). It was recovered by Norm Brayshaw, known to the owner Tom Close, from the Hira area (on the way to Nelson) on 12 February 1969 (*see notes). It is believed to be the oldest Ransome & Sims engine in the world.
The following information was prepared by Steve Austin, Chief Executive, Marlborough Museum and Marlborough Historical Society Inc, 2009. It was used for milling forest in the area partly now known as The Brook, in Nelson, at the base of Dun Mountain. Other milled areas may have also included what was once known as The Wood in Nelson.
The steam engine belonged to my namesake, Great Great Grandfather Stephen Close. He arrived with his wife, Anne Jane, in Nelson, on the Mary Anne, in 1842. They are buried at Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson.
Like his father, Stephen Close was also a sawyer, by the mid 1850s he had made enough money to buy a farm at Hira. This is still farmed by my family.
Stephen Close had four daughters, Thomas Austin married one daughter, Anne Jane Close (b. 1852), an early photograph of her is in the Brown Collection of negatives at Nelson Provincial Museum.
Thomas Austin's sons, Edward Harold Austin (Ned), and Norman Campbell Austin were the Head Shepherds (one succeeded the other) at Kekerengu Station, at the outbreak of World War 1. Edward Harold Austin later became the manager of The Bolton, a remote station in the Awatere. My Grandfather (Lewis George Austin), and his brothers (Edward Harold and Norman Campbell), also worked, mustering at Molesworth Station. Stephen Close's legacy has special Marlborough connections.
Owned by Marlborough Vintage Farm Machinery Society and one day they hope to restore it.
Image 8 is of Stephen Close the original owner of the steam engine [taken from a photocopy belonging to Steve Austin].
|
Object ID |
VFM0.800.0149 |
Object Name |
Engine |
Other # |
VFM500 |
People |
Brayshaw, Norman Henry Close, Tom Austin, Stephen Barry (Steve) Close, Stephen Close, Ann Jane Austin, Thomas Close, Anne Jane (later Austin) Austin, Anne Jane (nee Close) Austin, Edward Harold (Ned) Austin, Norman Campbell Austin, Lewis George |
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