Rack Shaking The racks are usually shaken in the cool of the evening, because the fruit is the driest it gets in the 24 hours. A forked machine is bolted on the front of the tractor, and the prongs are threaded between the rack tiers. The tractor hydraulic system moves the rack shaker up and down. This shakes the tiers, dislodging the fruit. Any fruit left behind is dislodged by a worker using a wooden batten. Notice the hessian spread on the ground to catch the flying berries. The tractor is a Farmal M, a heavy machine. It is supporting one of the first two rack shakers built by Tractor and Implements Co, in Mildura, in 1949. The rack shakers gradually became smaller, so the normal block tractor was able to run the replacement we bought when this one broke a vital weld.

Return to my Sultana Page.