THE winter of 1920 had been a ripper, with widespread rain pushing cereal crops over fence height.
But with harvest in sight, violent storms left the crops along the eastern seaboard a tangled mess.
Out of the despair emerged self-taught engineer Headlie Taylor, of Henty in the Riverina.
During November and December of 1920, the Sunshine factory in Melbourne worked around the clock churning out thousands of a new header designed by Taylor.
Equipped with Headlie crop-lifters - wooden fingers that lifted the crop into the comb - the Sunshine header saved the storm-flattened crops.
That header now takes pride of place in Henty.
Local residents have created a permanent display of the machine and the Taylor family's original blacksmith's workshop.
The header was rebuilt by a team of local farmers, using parts from nine original headers built between 1915 and 1917.
Henty grain grower Colin Wood said Taylor, who was a prolific inventor, had the foresight to design a simple machine with superior harvesting ability.
"We wanted to recognise Headlie for what he had done - his engineering ability was second to none," Mr Wood said.
Milton Taylor, a local farmer who helped build the historic display, said the Institution of Engineers Australia considered the Sunshine header in the same class as the Sydney Opera House for its engineering.
