Port Fairy, the Mahogany Ship and the Lost History of the Belfast Shire
About the Author: the following text, is a transcription of what appeared on the back cover of ‘Port Fairy, the Mahogany Ship and the Lost History of the Belfast Shire’ when it was first published in 2015 as a printed, 180-page, book…
This story, started with author Ian Geddes, a self-taught agricultural engineer and inventor researching a brief background of the historical working life or ‘career’ of his recently restored vintage English Minneapolis Moline tractor. He soon found the story had other ideas.
The war was over, and in late 1948 the Belfast shire had mysteriously taken delivery of a revolutionary English Minneapolis Moline tractor. Over the next 14 years this tractor, operating in its capacity as a stationary engine provided the power to run the shire’s rock crushing plant, supplying crushed material for all the region’s roads and ultimately a sealed road to the front gate of every residence in the shire.
Delving deeply into the historical workings and machinations of the small western district town of Port Fairy and its Shire Council (Belfast) in Victoria, Australia. That Ian unearths a previously untold trans-generational palimpsest of colonial Australia’s early settlement on the shipwreck coast… and new information is uncovered pertaining to the location of the “Mahogany Ship” that has been lost in the hummocks between Warrnambool and Port Fairy for over 180 years—the fabled wreck is Australia’s oldest and most endearing unsolved maritime mystery.
A tale of truly extraordinary human endeavour, vision, individual and collective enterprise, within this process he celebrates the contributions of John Patrick Ryan who served as the charismatic Shire engineer and secretary from 1941 to 1972.
Ian Geddes is the holder of several US patents. He is also the designer and inventor of the Live Rodent Relocation Device, a system whereby mice may be “relocated” alive and unharmed without the use of poisons or toxic chemicals. He currently lives in Australia.