In His Likeness
Unveiling the Headlie Taylor Statue
Hammer held aloft, the man prepares to bear down on the hot metal. He strikes it until it forms the shape of a cog which fits like a puzzle piece into his new invention.
Over thirteen months, Melbourne sculptor Paul Smits skilfully captured this moment in this bronze sculpture for the Headlie Taylor Header Museum, on Wiradjuri country in Henty NSW.
The man it commemorates is Headlie Taylor (1883-1957) whose prototype header harvester – which was able to harvest a greater proportion of storm-damaged crops – would change the grain industry forever. The harvester began production in 1916 through HV McKay and the Sunshine Harvester Works and, in the decades following, Taylor continued to produce brilliant machinery working at the company.
In saying that, his story began with making early prototypes by hand in his family’s humble blacksmith workshop. So it is only fitting that is the moment Smits decided to capture.
To ensure the likeness was exact, Smits used early photographs of Taylor and reproduced his exact hammer, anvil, and tongs using 3D scans of the original tools. The details even extended to his footwear which Smits ensured were Taylor’s exact size.
Standing proudly in front of the museum to greet visitors, the bronze statue was unveiled on 12 September 2018 by former Deputy Prime Minister, Tim Fischer. However, a special attendee of the occasion was Taylor’s last surviving son, John Taylor. Speaking directly about his father, he stated:
‘He had great humility about what he achieved… He had a great love of his family and I’m proud to be his son.’
