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Story: Farm mechanisation

Horse-powered threshing machine

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Horse-powered threshing machine

Horse power is used to operate a threshing machine at Temuka in 1861. The horses walk around a capstan, to which they are tethered. This power turns gears that run the threshing machine.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/2-020121; F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

James Watson, Farm mechanisation – Machines powered by humans and animals, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/18371/horse-powered-threshing-machine (accessed 14 June 2026).

Story by James Watson, published 1 March 2009.