Sunshine-Waterloo Co. Ltd.

 Hugh Victor McKay
1865 - 1926
Founder of the Sunshine Harvester Works

By the 1920s the Sunshine Harvester Works of H.V. McKay in Australia was the largest implement factory in the southern hemisphere, covering 75 acres, and was one of the world’s leading international agricultural industries thanks to its development of the world's first self-propelled harvester in 1924. At its peak, the enterprise employed nearly 3,000 workers.

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Photo Credit: Waterloo Public Library, Ellis Little Local History Room.

In 1929 McKay and Toronto’s Massey-Harris Co. along with the Waterloo Manufacturing Co. incorporated the Sunshine-Waterloo Company Ltd. with the intent of adapting McKay’s self-propelled combine design for the North American market. In 1930, the newly formed company built a 285,000 sq. ft. plant in Waterloo, Ontario. In exchange McKay was granted the exclusive Australian distribution of Massey-Harris farm equipment.

Photo Credit: Waterloo Public Library, Ellis Little Local History Room.

 

Although set up to produce mainly farm equipment, in order to survive the tough economic times of the thirties, the new company manufactured a multitude of products, including baby carriages, bicycles, tricycles and roller skates. Throughout this period (1930 - 1940) Tommy Russell was president of Massey-Harris and no doubt a key figure in the Waterloo-Sunshine Co.

Sunshine-Waterloo plant in Waterloo, Ontario
Photo Credit: Waterloo Public Library, Ellis Little Local History Room.

During the Depression as grain harvesters were being phased out since farmers could not afford them, the company began to produce automotive stampings for cars. Waterloo Manufacturing withdrew from the joint venture in 1934.

 In 1939 the company converted to the manufacture of war-related products including smoke bombs, shells, mines, grenades and gun mounts. During World War Two the Sunshine Waterloo Co. was a major producer for the war effort. During the war security was high at the plant due to the fact that it produced tank, airplane and truck parts, as well as ammunition, land mines, and various bombs.

Backpeddling, Guelph, Ontario 

   Backpeddling, Guelph, OntarioFollowing the war, further market changes led to the company adding office products, stoves, shelving and lockers, as well as bicycles. Sunshine bicycles and tricycles were produced until 1954.

Greg Williams' 1952 Sunshine with a Whizzer 300-series motor

In 1955 the McKay family sold out to the newly formed agricultural implement conglomerate Massey-Ferguson which was a combination of the Canadian and American interests of Massey Harris and the British tractor firm of Harry Ferguson.

In 1961 the name of the Sunshine-Waterloo Co. was changed to Sunshine Office Equipment and the company concentrated solely on the manufacture of steel office equipment and storage lockers until the plant was sold in 1978.