Wikipedia

Victa

(Redirected from Victa lawn mower)
For the cinema in South Australia, see Victa Cinema.

Victa is an Australian manufacturer of outdoor garden equipment, including petrol, electric, and battery-powered lawn mowers, edgers, trimmers, and chainsaws. The brand is best known as a manufacturer of rotary lawn mowers. In the early 1960s the company also built light aircraft, notably the Victa Airtourer, and project homes.

A Victa lawn mower

Since 2008 and as of 2024 the Victa brand is owned by the American engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton. In Australia and New Zealand, Victa products are sold through major hardware chains and specialist dealers, and some products are available through dealers in other countries.

History

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The Victa company was founded by Mervyn Victor Richardson[1] in 1952.[2] The name was derived from his middle name.[3]

Lawn mowers

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An early Victa lawn mower

Mervyn's son Garry mowed lawns to earn money in university holidays. Garry borrowed Mervyn's Victa 14" cylinder-based power mower which was heavy to transport and to operate. Mervyn wanted to design a new mower for his son's business. Mervyn had seen Lawrence Hall's "Mowhall" rotary lawn mower demonstrated in 1948. The heavy Mowhall was not a very successful invention because it required two people to use it, one to push and one to pull.[citation needed]

The Victa rotary lawn mower was developed in August 1952 by Richardson, in his backyard at Concord, New South Wales.[4] Although not the first of its type, it was cheaper, lighter, and easier to use than earlier models.[5]

Although Richardson had developed rotating reel mowers for his son's business, in August 1952 he decided to make a rotary lawn mower similar to the Mowhall, using a Villiers two-stroke engine mounted on its side but utilising a lighter base plate, allowing use by a single operator. He wanted it to be cheaper, lighter and more powerful. It was called the "Peach-Tin Prototype", so named because it was made out of scrap metal with a peach tin used as a fuel tank.[citation needed]

Initially selling the mowers from his home,[5] by 1953, demand for the mowers was so strong that Richardson gave up his job and became full-time manager of his new company, Victa Mowers Pty Ltd.[1]

By 2002, 6.5 million Victa mowers had been sold in 30 countries.[5]

1960s diversification

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In the early 1960s, the firm diversified into other industries: it manufactured the "red phone" (a private payphone system, for use in business premises), aircraft, and, for a short while, Victa project homes.[3]

In 1960, Victa Consolidated Industries, later renamed Victa Ltd, undertook to build 50 Victa Airtourers, a light monoplane designed by Henry Millicer, under Mervyn Victor Richardson, who had an interest in aeroplanes.[6] The company set up an Aviation Division at their Milperra base, and also produced the Victa Aircruiser and Victa Gyroplane.[7] Victa built 168 of the aircraft in Sydney before selling off the division to New Zealand company AESL in 1966.[8] The Airtourer proved very popular, boosted by Victa's purchase plan whereby owners could pay off the cost in instalments.[9]

Although certification was obtained, the Aircruiser was never put into production by Victa, as they withdrew that arm of their operations in 1966-7 after the government would not grant them a financial advantage to protect the local industry over imported aeroplanes.[10] The same fate befell the Victa R-2, a prototype single-engine four-seat light aircraft. Only one was built, which first flew in February 1961, but no production followed.[11]

In the 1960s, Victa produced a range of project homes in Australia.[12][13][14]

Company

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In 1953 Richardson gave up his job and became full-time manager of Victa Mowers Pty Ltd. In 1958, the company had moved to a new factory at Milperra, New South Wales, and its 3,000 employees were building 143,000 mowers a year for export to 28 countries.[1]

From the outset, the company used marketing and advertising effectively. It was a pioneer in Australian TV advertising, and also advertised extensively in newspaper and print media. Victa set up a network of distributors, who were thoroughly trained in promotion and sales.[5]

In the 1960s, Mervyn's son Garry Richardson started playing a more important role in the company, becoming chairman in 1965.[3]

In 1970 Victa was acquired by Sunbeam Corporation Ltd.[15][3]

In 1994 the factory moved to Campsie, and the seven millionth Victa lawnmower was built in 1997.[3]

In 1996, the company was sold to GUD Holdings Limited,[16] who sold the Victa Lawn Care business to American-based Briggs & Stratton for A$23 million in 2008.[17][18][3] As of 2024 Briggs & Stratton owns the Victa brand.[19]

Today

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While most design and manufacturing capability has remained in Australia, such as assembly, research and development, and parts manufacture, all engine products are sourced from Briggs & Stratton's Facilities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[citation needed]

Outdoor garden equipment, including petrol, electric, and battery-powered lawn mowers, edgers, trimmers, and chainsaws are sold under the Victa brand.[20]

Victa is also sold in limited quantities through specialist dealers internationally.[21]

Legacy

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The Victa Lawnmower regarded by many as an Australian icon, and it was included in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.[3] A retro advertisement for Victa is on permanent display at Museum Railway Station in Sydney.[22]

The Richardson radial aero-engine, the Victa prototype lawnmower (1952),[3] the Victa Peach Tin prototype, and other important Victa lawn mowers were donated to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.[23] The Powerhouse held an exhibition entitled Victa – 70 years turning grass into lawns in 2023.[24]

The archive of Philip Larkin's work at University of Hull includes the blue Victa lawn mower involved in the incident that inspired his famous poem 'The Mower'.[25][26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Wood, Richard V., "Richardson, Mervyn Victor (1893–1972)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 30 December 2021
  2. ^ Williams, Marina (12 January 2015), "Victa mows through the ages", Murray Valley Standard, archived from the original on 12 May 2021
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Collecting Lawnmowers: The Victa Mowers Story With A Careel Bay Link". Pittwater Online News (426). 27 October – 2 November 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Victa About Us". Briggs & Stratton Australia Pty Ltd.
  5. ^ a b c d "Victa Lawnmower Collection". Museum Metadata Exchange. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Victa". All the World's Aircraft. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Item TL 40953: Descriptive Booklet - Victa Aviation Division, circa 1965" (25 images). Museums Victoria Collections. 23 June 1981. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  8. ^ "The aeroplane". Airtourer Association Inc. 12 December 1961. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Building a plane the Victa way". Western Herald (Bourke). New South Wales, Australia. 9 October 1964. p. 5. Retrieved 29 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Brumby Aircraft to Build Aircruisers". Australian Flying. 10 September 1966. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  11. ^ Brogden, Stanley (12 August 1960). "Australian Light Aircraft: Newcomers Enter the Club and Agricultural Markets". Flight. Vol. 78, no. 2683. pp. 234–235. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016.
  12. ^ "Victa Homes - Richmond". 1960. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Victa Homes - Pasadena". 1963. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Victa Homes". Flickr. 29 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  15. ^ "Sunbeam makes cash bid for Victa". The Canberra Times. 26 February 1970. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  16. ^ "Sunbeam Victa Holdings Limited SVH". DeListed Australia. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  17. ^ Alice Coster (5 June 2008). "Victa Lawncare mown down". Herald Sun. www.news.com.au. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
  18. ^ "Aussie icon falls into American hands". Brisbane Times. 4 June 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  19. ^ "Family of Brands". Briggs & Stratton Australia. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  20. ^ "About Us". www.victa.com. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  21. ^ "International Dealers". Victa. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  22. ^ "Museum Station". GML Heritage. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  23. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. ^ "Victa – 70 years turning grass into lawns". Powerhouse Museum. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  25. ^ "Larkin's lawnmower cuts it as a relic". The Telegraph. 11 May 2002. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  26. ^ McDonald, Guy (2004). Cadogan Guide: England, p. 836. New Holland Publishers, ISBN 978-1-86011-116-7
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