Frank Bottrill (1 April 1871 – 7 January 1953) was an Australian blacksmith and inventor, known for his giant "Big Lizzie" traction engine, thought to be at one time the largest in the world.

Alternating bearing plates gave support to each wheel, allowing it to travel over soft ground without bogging down.

After running into financial difficulty, Bottrill spent the later part of his working life clearing bush and hauling loads in the west of New South Wales and Victoria.

He apprenticed as a blacksmith, and worked in the Moonta and Wallaroo mines in South Australia, qualifying as a steam engine driver.

[1] In an early venture, Bottrill formed a steam-engine company to transport supplies to Broken Hill and set out from Adelaide with his first vehicle.

[1] The Mount Gunson copper mines in South Australia bought the first set of Dreadnaught wheels on a tractor built by Austral Otis with a forty-horsepower twin-cylinder McDonald engine.

It was tested in swampy land near the Austral Otis works in August 1911, then dismantled and shipped to Hummock Hill (now Whyalla), where Frank and Reuben Bottril re-assembled the tractor and drove it to Port Augusta, South Australia.

[6][a] Botrill's patented wheels were also used on "Big Lizzie", a huge traction engine which McDonald's built to his design in 1915.

[7] Bottrill planned to drive Big Lizzie to the Broken Hill mines, with two pedrail-equipped wagons in tow.

[4] Urgently needing work, Bottrill began taking on contracts to haul wheat and clear bush in the area.

[4] From 1920 to 1924 Bottrill worked in Red Cliffs, in the Rural City of Mildura, clearing the ground for a 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) irrigated farming settlement for World War I veterans.

[1] However, disputes arose with the station owners, one being due to the fact that Bottril would not work on Saturday, considered to be the Sabbath by his church.

[7] Botrill lived in Lismore near Camperdown, Victoria from 1931 to 1934, then moved to Dareton, New South Wales, near Mildura, where he was an elder of the church and the treasurer for the rest of his life.