Bratten, Robert

Robert Bratten was born in 1862 and came to South Australia from Ireland at the age of 20. He worked in a timber yard then, with three children, his wife, her father and brothers, took up land in the Stokes, Ungarra area, later moving to a small block west of Lipson.

Robert worked in the nearby mines and in 1906 was appointed as overseer of the District Council of Tumby Bay. In 1907 he became the first health inspector, and in 1913 District Clerk. One day he arrived at a worksite on his bike to see a tractor pulling the single furrow plough. One of the workmen said “you can have your so and so plough, Bratten, I’m not holding it any more. When it hits a rock you get thrown yards.” So Robert went into the scrub and cut a log about five foot long and two smaller sticks which he lashed onto each end and tied the log across the plough so it would not tip sideways. The tractor was now able to pull out quite large rocks. Robert commissioned Ern Excell in Tumby Bay to make an iron bar with slides each end: thus the Brattenising plough was born. He refused to patent the design, as he believed it was for the people, not for himself.

At the age of 73 Robert Bratten retired from Council, but continued to work the land. He died in Tumby Bay in 1936, a loveable old gentleman and modest about his success.

The South Australian Government recognised his work by making him a gift of £200 and naming the main road from Tumby Bay to Mount Hope 'The Bratten Way'. In 1934 a monument was erected on the Tumby bay Foreshore in recognition of his work. A model of the plough is displayed on top of the monument. The inscription reads:

Erected by Members and Officers of District Councils on Eyre Peninsula and the Murraylands as a mark of appreciation of the valued services rendered to the community by ROBERT BRATTEN Overseer of Works – District of Tumby Bay In originating the Brattenising system of road making Unveiled by D.V. Fleming M.I.E Aust. Commissioner of Highways 2nd October 1934