Bringing the story of a true trailblazer to life

THE LIFE story of Hamilton farmer and tractor manufacturer, James Nagorcka and history of Waltanna Tractors and his world-famous rubber track systems.

From a small farm workshop outside of Hamilton, Victoria, James Nagorcka (pictured right with wife June at induction into the Southern Grampians Business Association Hall of Fame in 2013) carved his name in Australia’s and the world’s tractor manufacturing industry and also led the world in his design of rubber tracks.

The book Wheel-Tracks by Mount Gambier author Graham Greenwood highlights James Nagorcka’s life story and work in designing and building his own farm tractor under the Waltanna name in the mid-1970s which was designed and built for Australian farming conditions and Australian farmers.

Later this led him to eventually design and create rubber tracks which had many world companies such as Firestone, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Caterpillar and New Holland, seeking his advice and assistance to design and build better and more reliant rubber track system for tractors.

It also led world tractor giant John Deere to come knocking on his door at his Hamilton farm home where he was a fourth generation farmer and from there he worked for John Deere for 15 years, designing and building prototypes from his Hamilton farm workshop, some of which made it to the world tractor market.

The book takes the reader back into the past – four generations ago – when James Nagorcka’s great grandfather Christian became a trailblazer by taking up the challenge of migrating from Prussia to a country on the other side of the world to begin a new life.

Slowly, Christian built a new life and he and future generations bought and developed properties in and around Hamilton. The Nagorcka story follows the many highs and lows the family faced as they slowly built a farming business and dynasty through the next four generations and into the fifth generation with James’ son Michael now running the business.

Along the way, fourth generation farmer James Nagorcka made his mark at a young age with his passion for machinery and a keenness to make various types of farm machinery equipment, firstly working on his father Percy’s property and then his own farming operation which eventually led to him designing and building his own tractor, known as a Waltanna tractor and sold throughout Australia.

His story tells of leaving high school in Hamilton to join his father Percy on the farm and later marrying June and enduring the good and bad times of farming and being a small tractor manufacturer.

James’ story highlights how he coped with the disappointment of missing out on deals with Ford and Caterpillar in the United States, but through perseverance his luck would eventually change, albeit with a little luck as a result of a small story and photo in a US farming magazine, “Implement and Tractor”. That article about James’ new rubber track system attracted attention and then American super power machinery operator John Deere made a Christmas Eve phone call to James and opened up a new opportunity which put the Hamilton farmer on the world stage. Travelling to the US to win over John Deere engineers and representatives led him to helping design and build their various tractors and made James and Waltanna a household name in the Australian farming world.

The book tells of the story of James Nagorcka’s amazing dedication to designing and building farm machinery equipment which played a big part in the birth and success of Waltanna tractors, and the disappointments and successes of developing his famous rubber track system – all achieved from his family farming operation near Hamilton.

He achieved success in an industry – farming and farm machinery manufacturing – which is sometimes tough, often brutal and difficult to achieve, albeit initially in a relatively small market in Australia. Having achieved that, he then set his sights on the world stage where he and his designed tractors with rubber tracks and rubber track technology became famous in various overseas countries. In fact, at one time his development work at Waltanna led the world in polyurethane and rubber tracks.

This led to deals with overseas companies, including John Deere, Bridgestone and Goodyear. His ability to design, build and manufacture rubber track systems from his Waltanna Farms workshop was something most unique in the farm manufacturing world and perhaps will never be achieved again.

Along the way his success story spread throughout Australia where farming magazines and regional newspapers ran their Waltanna story. Then of course, James took on the task of breaking into the overseas markets and had association with some of the biggest names in world farm machinery – Ford and John Deere – being just two of them.

The book goes into detail on how he designed and built polyurethane tracks and suddenly he and Waltanna Tractors were on the world stage – well ahead of overseas major companies such as Goodyear and Bridgestone in developing this innovation. Soon these companies came calling seeking his assistance, eventually selling the technology for overseas manufacture by these same companies.

Few, if any, small Australian tractor manufacturers achieved the success on the local and international stage that James Nagorcka did. He took on the “big guns” and eventually signed contracts resulting in lasting partnerships. Some were very successful, some were not so, but throughout it all James with his quiet demeanour, retained his dignity and credibility through his perseverance to succeed by creating new designs and tractors for the future.

Wheel-Tracks is an A4 book containing 410 pages and 110 pages of photos to illustrate the history of Waltanna Tractors. The book, written by Mount Gambier author Graham Greenwood will be launched by ex Ford executive Terry Probert.

The launch will he held on the Nagorcka family farm “Waltanna”, Warrayure, near Hamilton on Sunday, June 15 at 2pm.

The book is available by Paypal or credit card either on-line: www.waltanafarms.com.au or by phoning 03 55733392 or from the Waltanna office (food facility) situated at 8596 Glenelg Highway, near Hamilton. Cost is $60 plus $15 for postage and handling (Aust).