Back to search results

H V McKay offices / Massey-Ferguson (Aust) Ltd
2 Devonshire Road, SUNSHINE VIC 3020 - Property No 53

All information on this page is maintained by Brimbank City. Click below for their website and contact details.
Brimbank City
1691 - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study 1987
1691 - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study 1987
1691 - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study 1987
On this page:

Statement of Significance

The McKay-Massey-Ferguson office complex at Sunshine is of historical, social and architectural significance at the State and national level for its association with H.V. McKay, the inventor of the Sunshine Harvester and one of Australia's foremost industrial entrepreneurs. The name 'Sunshine', which he gave to the harvester he designed, is perpetuated in the name of the suburb. The offices also represent (by default of being the most substantial surviving element) the scale of the former works as a large dynamic industrial complex that evolved constantly from the establishment of the Braybrook Implement Company in 1889 to the closure of the site by Massey-Ferguson in 1986.
Show more
Show less

    • Physical Description 1

      H V McKay offices / Massey-Ferguson (Aust) Ltd - Physical Description 1

      Two-storey stuccoed Edwardian era former McKay offices extending to the corner of Devonshire Road as a major streetscape element within the Sunshine centre and as seen from the railway and beyond. Styled in the Edwardian Baroque revival and finished in cement render, the building is set out in bays along the main facades, with the distinctive curved corner surmounted by a multi-hipped roof clad with slate and terra-cotta. Raised pierced parapets add emphasis to bays in the elevation. Around the corner in Harvester Road is another earlier building - McKay's offices, built in 1909, but now absorbed into the larger complex. The McKay name was in large letters across the front but reputedly these were removed when Massey Ferguson took over the works. South of this is the sheer wall of the garage, with its moulded cement stringcourse (formerly with moulded cement lettering as well. The Devonshire Road frontage incorporates the engineering department which provides fairly plain transition between the head office and Hampshire House which continues as the Hampshire Road shop strip. The prominent concrete water tower which surmounts the complex is a local landmark.

      Physical Conditions

      H V McKay offices / Massey-Ferguson (Aust) Ltd - Physical Conditions

      The office complex is substantially intact to its 1940 extent with substantial components of 1909 and 1927. Some external finish has been removed and the interiors have been degraded, but the original blackwood-panelled head office interiors are intact.

      Intactness

      H V McKay offices / Massey-Ferguson (Aust) Ltd - Intactness

      Substantially intact.

      Historical Australian Themes

      H V McKay offices / Massey-Ferguson (Aust) Ltd - Historical Australian Themes

      3 Developing local, regional and national economies
      3.14 Developing an Australian engineering and construction industry

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Brimbank - Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study

      Author: G. Vines
      Year: 2000
      Grading: State

Public contributions

Note: Developments may span multiple time periods
Timeline browser

< to 1849
< - 1849
1850 to 1879
1850 - 1879
1880 to 1909
1880 - 1909
1910 to 1939
1910 - 1939
1940 to 1969
1940 - 1969
1970 to 1999
1970 - 1999
2000 to >
2000 - >