Richard Bowyer Smith was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n inventor.

Under R.B. Smith's direction, his brother Clarence Herbert Smith

Clarence Herbert Smith

Clarence Herbert Smith was an Australian agriculturalist, engineer, blacksmith and inventor....

 created the first stump-jump plough

Stump-jump plough

The stump-jump plough is a kind of plough invented in South Australia in the late nineteenth century by Richard Bowyer Smith to solve the particular problem of preparing mallee lands for cultivation.-The problem:...

, entitled the Vixen, in 1876. The South Australian government had offered a reward of £200 to anyone who could develop an effective mechanical stump puller due to frustration with lack of productivity efficiency on its farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

s with current equipment.

The plough consisted of any number of hinged shares

Ploughshare

A ploughshare or plowshare is a component of a plough or plow.Ploughshare or Plowshare may also refer to:* Operation Plowshare, United States project to use nuclear explosives for civilian purposes* vomer, facial bone in the human skull...

: when the blade encountered an underground obstacle, it would rise out of the ground. Attached weights forced the blade back into the ground after the root was passed, allowing as much of the ground to be furrowed as possible. Although a little unorthodox, it proved remarkably effective, and was dubbed the "stump-jump" plough.

R.B. Smith took out a patent in 1877 for the design, he allowed it to lapse. R.B. Smith was later credited as the inventor of the design by the Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of South Australia

The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government....

 in 1882, despite controversy over the claim, and was awarded £500. His brother began manufacturing the parts in South Australia, whilst R.B. Smith relocated to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 in 1884, demonstrating and marketing the plough he designed with little sales success and minimal profits.

After moving to Western Australia, R.B. Smith was the manager of a hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

 from 1893 to 1895, and between 1895 and 1899 he operated 'railway refreshment rooms'. He then leased 181.5 acre (0.73450509 km²) of farmland at Beverley

Beverley, Western Australia

Beverley is a town located in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, south-east of the state capital, Perth, between York and Brookton on the Great Southern Highway...

, where he resumed his passion for creating agricultural tools. He proceeded to then open a workshop in the Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 suburb of Highgate

Highgate, Western Australia

Highgate is an inner suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Vincent and north of the CBD. Highgate was named for the village of Highgate in Kent, England...

in 1912, having ended his lease of the farming land.