Vintage Spanners & Wrenches in Australia

Daniel Harvey

Daniel Harvey of Box Hill in Melbourne

Brass Plate from a Harvey Orchard Plough

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Some Daniel Harvey info
Malleable Spanner maked "HARVEY Ltd R173" "
Cast Iron Spanner marked "DANIEL HARVEY Ltd / WES 181 "
Cast / Malleable Iron DOE marked "DANIEL HARVEY Ltd / BOX HILL MELBOURNE D59
Cast / Malleable Iron SOE marked "DANIEL HARVEY Ltd / BOX HILL MELBOURNE"
Cast spanner marked "DANIEL HARVEY / BOX HILL HO65"
Cast spanner marked "DANIEL HARVEY / BOX HILL - Note - identical to the one above but no number (HO65)"
Forged spanner marked "HARVEY / DP153"
Harvey Cast Iron implement Seat D38 - common
Harvey Cast Iron implement Seat (no number - rare!)

Introduction

Daniel Harvey

Historical information is hard to find relating to Daniel Harvey.
Briefly:

Started business in 1910 as an agricultural implement foundry.

Made all sorts of cultivating implements.

Taken over by Horwood Bagshaw in 1963

I have found d Harvey listed in S & M Directories up to 1946.

History note provided by Elaine Heeney nee Harvey (grand daughter of Daniel Harvey)

Daniel Harvey was the 5th son of Malachi and Elizabeth Harvey, he was raised in Mysia, Victoria where his father had a farm, he had 10 other brothers. He was born on 8/8/ 1879 or 80, we have not been able to track down his birth certificate, possibly in NSW but as Malachi was illiterate he may simply have neglected to register him. His mother was educated and insisted that all the boys got some education.
When he left school he was apprenticed to a Blacksmith. The Wedderburn Goldrush caused his boss to go the fields without paying him his last wage so Daniel rode his bike down to Wedderburn collected his pay then rode onto Melbourne. He got employment at H.V.McKay and worked there for a period until the late 1890's as far as I can find out. He was boarding at Templestowe and started doing odd job repairs for the local orchardists, the local Blacksmith died and Daniel was offered the job by his widow ?Mrs Hillier ( I think that was her name). As he repaired various ploughs etc. he started to figure out improvements the local Orchardists in particular a Mr Petty supported him possibly financially and he bought the Blacksmithing shop. This was in 1900. He later called one of his ploughs the Petty Plough. He married a local girl Maud Adams, they had 3 sons but only one survived his first year, this was my father Hugh Gordon, who was born in 1911 who later joined him in the business.
Daniel first moved to Box Hill in 1910 and bought a tract of land on Whitehorse Rd with a cottage on it. Built his foundry and gradually expanded the business.
As far as I can remember he not only made the ploughs but also the nuts and bolts, hence the need to make the Spanners to fit the tooling.
When the site became too small at Box Hill he bought land in Nunawading about 1950 possibly a bit later but again it was on Whitehorse Road, with a railway backing.
When Hugh died my family found a huge trunk full of old photos many on silver oxide, so we contacted the Museum and in time passed all of them over to them for restoration and filing, they are on Microfiche at the Science & Technology section of the Melbourne Museum at Spotswood. Its called "The Harvey Collection". The Museums at Templestowe / Doncaster, Hastings and Ferntree Gully also have information and artefacts.

If any reader can provide additional information or images please make contact via the link below.

References: "Digging Stick to Rotary Hoe by Frances Wheelhouse
...................Various S & M Directories (Victorian)
....................Elaine Heeney nee Harvey (grand daughter of Daniel Harvey)

Spanners marked Harvey or D Harvey or Daniel Harvey are mostly heavy cast iron spanners with a rough finish
However, there are some fine examples of cast ones such as the R173, and the forged DP153

Please make contact if you have anyfurther information or images to add.