Ex-WWII tanks still used as paddock bashers on Australian farms

From ABC (Australia) comes an article on ex-WWII tanks still in use as paddock bashers on Australian farms.

The cows do not seem too perturbed but they make sure they get out of the way whenever the members of the Busted Arse Tank Repairs and Co roll by on an armoured vehicle.

These giant machines may seem out of place on the otherwise quiet, rural property near Oberon in central-west New South Wales.

But their owner said in the years following World War II, ex-military vehicles played an important role on many Australian farms and he and his band of tank tinkerers want to pay tribute to that history.

Many sheds on farms across Australia are jam-packed full of dusty collections of tools, equipment and junk.

But the shed owned by Matt McMahon, a cattle producer in the Oberon district, contains some massive rusty specimens that speak of a little-known part of Australia’s farming history.

It is a collection of tanks and other ex-military vehicles which was originally started by his father, John McMahon, in the decades following World War II.

In the great tradition of farmers making do with what was to hand, many snapped up cheap ex-military vehicles at auction.

“I’ve read stories of people getting a whole row of them for 50 quid.”

Mr McMahon said tanks helped shape many Australian properties including his, where his father cleared land…….

Read the full article here, including video clip.