The grain winnower in the Dance Cottage museum collection was used by the Chambers Brothers in the 20th century on their farm, Ravensthorpe. It was donated by the familyto the Ravensthorpe Historical Society in the 1980s.
The earliest Australian winnower manufacturer was John Stokes Bagshaw, who began operations in Adelaide in 1838. Bradshaw’s first hand cranked winnower models could clean about 10 bags of grain an hour with a strong person on the crank handle. The winnower pulled up alongside the heap of grain and chaff on the ground which had been dropped by the stripper. The grain shovelled into the hopper to clean out the chaff. The model in the museum's collection was originally hand turned but has been improvised to take a belt allowing the use of horsepower.