A passion for tinkering and old machinery earns Josh recognition

A young Riverina man with a passion for tinkering with and restoring old machinery has been named as the NSW winner of the Ian Stewart Old Machinery Young Enthusiasts Award.

Josh Menz, 19, of The Rock, received a cash prize of $1000 from the National Historical Machinery Association for his contribution to the Henty and District Antique Farm Machinery Club’s display each year at the Henty Machinery Field Days. 

The Ian Stewart Old Machinery Young Enthusiasts Award was established in 2020 to encourage young machinery restorers aged under 25 years to gain skills, qualifications, tools or heritage studies.

An apprentice carpenter, Josh has been a member of the Henty and District Antique Farm Machinery Club for the past three years and has restored a 1950 Fordson E27N Major tractor which has been displayed at the Henty Machinery Field Days.

His first display at Henty was a stationary engine driving a water pump. 

“My dad had a tractor similar on the farm, but it had no tyres, and I didn’t have enough money for new tyres. In 2019 he went to a clearing sale where there was an outside entry of an unrestored Fordson tractor with good tyres that was going cheap so he bought it for me to restore,” Josh said.

“It came from a farm near Gerogery and has a replacement engine from a different tractor. I have dated the engine as also being from 1950.”

Josh was in Year 9 at the time, and it took him three years to restore the tractor, mainly on weekends with the guidance of his father, Barry, also a keen collector of vintage machinery.

“I am in the market for collecting old stuff and have recently picked up an unrestored mid 1930s tractor, a Minneapolis-Moline Twin City FTA. We are working on a 1966 Albion Reiver RE29L truck as a restoration project to transport a portable steam engine to vintage rallies,” Josh said.

“It wasn’t too difficult to track down a Leyland engine for this truck but if you have a machine that is unique or rare, finding parts can be a challenge.”

As one of the youngest members of the Henty and District Antique Farm Machinery Club, Josh’s win in the Ian Stewart award came as a surprise and he has already put the prize money to good use.

“There is no doubt that $1000 will go straight back into old stuff. There is a fair bit of knowledge and skills among the Club’s senior members – they have plenty of contacts for finding spare parts and machines and giving me advice,” he said. 

“I love going to the field days each year to see all the different sorts of displays – I just can’t get enough of the old stuff. There are not many young people interested in maintaining the old machinery – it would be great to see more younger people buy a little stationery engine and make it go as a hobby.”