Victa

Summary

Victa is an Australian manufacturer of outdoor garden equipment, including petrol and electric lawn mowers, edgers, trimmers, and chainsaws. They manufacture these in petrol and battery-powered variants. However, Victa is best known as a manufacturer of rotary lawn mowers.[1]

The Victa brand is currently owned by the American engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton; while being American owned, some assembly is retained in Australia with much occurring at various sites overseas. Manufacturing also primarily occurs overseas.

In Australia and New Zealand, Victa products are sold through major hardware chains and specialist dealers. Victa is also sold in limited quantities through specialist dealers internationally.

History edit

The Victa company was founded by Mervyn Victor Richardson[2] in 1952.[3]

Victa lawn mower edit

 
A Victa lawn mower
 
An early Victa lawn mower

The Victa lawn mower was invented in 1952, in Mervyn Richardson's backyard (1894-1972) in Concord, Australia.[4]

In 1951, 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.

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.

By 1953, demand for the mowers was so strong that 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.[5]

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'.[6][7]

The Victa Peach Tin prototype and other important Victa lawn mowers were donated to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.[8]

Company edit

In 1970 Victa was acquired by Sunbeam Corporation Ltd.[9] In 1996, the company was sold to GUD Holdings Limited,[10] who sold the Victa Lawn Care business to American-based Briggs & Stratton for A$23 million in 2008.[11]

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

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.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "About Us". www.victa.com. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
  2. ^ Wood, Richard V., "Richardson, Mervyn Victor (1893–1972)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2021-12-30
  3. ^ "Victa mows through the ages", www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au
  4. ^ "Victa About Us". Briggs & Stratton Australia Pty Ltd.
  5. ^ Wood, Richard V. (2002). "Richardson, Mervyn Victor (1894 - 1972)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  6. ^ "Larkin's lawnmower cuts it as a relic". The Telegraph. 2002-05-11. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  7. ^ McDonald, Guy (2004). Cadogan Guide: England, p. 836. New Holland Publishers, ISBN 978-1-86011-116-7
  8. ^ http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/australia_innovates/?behaviour=view_article&Section_id=1040&article_id=10057
  9. ^ "Sunbeam makes cash bid for Victa". The Canberra Times. 26 February 1970. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Sunbeam Victa Holdings Limited SVH | deListed Australia". www.delisted.com.au. Retrieved Oct 21, 2022.
  11. ^ Alice Coster (June 5, 2008). "Victa Lawncare mown down". Herald Sun. www.news.com.au. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  12. ^ "Victa Homes - Richmond". 1960. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  13. ^ "Victa Homes - Pasadena". 1963. Retrieved 2022-01-02.

Further reading

  • "Aussie Icon Falls into American Hands" , Brisbane Times, 2008-06-04

External links edit

  Media related to Victa lawn mowers at Wikimedia Commons

  • Official website
  • Australian Innovates
  • Victa Lawn Mower patent at IP Australia website
  • National Museum of Australia 1958 Victa lawn mower, one of two held at the National Museum of Australia.