Stump Jump Plough

Sketches of stump jump ploughs, signed by CH Smith.

Designed by brothers Richard and Clarence Smith of Yorke Peninsula, the stump jump plough allowed farmers to cultivate the land without removing rocks and stumps. Along with the Ridley stripper (another South Australian invention), the stump jump plough revolutionised farming worldwide.

Widespread land clearing in the 1860s and 1870s meant a vast number of mallee stumps were left in the ground posing an expensive problem to farmers wishing to plough their land. The stump jump plough was designed to allow the farmers to jump over the stumps in their way thereby protecting their machinery and avoiding the cost of having to remove each stump.

Clarence Herbert Smith was born at Alma Goldfields in Victoria in 1856. Apprenticed to his brother Richard, a blacksmith at Port Wakefield and later a farmer at Kalkabury (now Arthurton near Maitland) he made the first stump jump plough under Richard's direction in 1876 and continued improving the design while farming at Kalkabury. He married Emma Beck in 1879 and established a factory at Ardrossan in 1880 where he began manufacturing the plough. He died in 1901 and his business passed to his sons Glen and Alma Smith. The business ceased operations in 1934.

As the master blacksmith, Richard is often acknowledged as the inventor of the plough, but both brothers should be credited.

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