Hello ODK History Lovers,

This series of posts explore and discuss a distinctive looking rotary that was sold here years
before the first Victa rotary mowers. I would like to explore the company that made them,
and the other products they were known for.

If you choose to call a mower a 'Ladybird' then you probably wouldn't attract the
barbie and backyard boys who love their meat pies, kangaroos, Holden Cars and ... Victa mowers.
The name Ladybird now seems a bit . . . 'girlie'...?

But in the immediate post-war world it would not have been seen this way. Aggressive names like
'Combat' and 'Commando' and other mower names would have been considered in poor taste at that time.
I still think they are . . .

The Ladybird mower was advertised in England as "The Ladies' Mower".
When you look at Britain's context, the name made perfect sense. Post war, Britain was war-ravaged,
with tens of thousands of men not returning home, it did fall on the widow in many cases to be self-sufficient.
The rather effeminate name captured the softer, electric appliance market that was emerging.

Having said that, the Ladybird was not marketed as a lady's mower here.
Here, the marketers captures the revolutionary rotary features and the space-age looks.
If ever there was a space-age mower, it would be the 'Ladybird' electric 12 inch rotary.

To put you in the picture, here is an early advertisement from 1949.

[Linked Image]