SIGNIFICANCE
These machines are rare these days. I have no photo record of them.
There is a terrible irony in the Centre Court story. When Australian companies moved to
civilian production after WWII, there was a concerted effort to make things differently -
more ... modern...
Pope Products entered the lawnmower market in 1949. It did produce a fresh design with its Wimbledon,
embracing rubber tyres and tube handles. The Pope reel-mower range, though conservative,
did introduce a couple of new features that were covered by patents, pertaining to the adjustment of the
deflector plate and height adjustment.
The irony is, they weren't modern enough. Just one year earlier, Tecnico had introduced its
electric rotary mowers. Quickly, many appliance companies went household appliance mad.
The rotary mower market exploded with the great names of Tecnico, TAD, Tasma, Mercury, Breville,
Grasshopper and the British Ladybird.
Reel mowers were living on borrowed time, and even though the Centre Court was competitively priced
with electric rotaries, it would be the rotaries that would prove the most popular - because they were
better suited to our Australian conditions and our leisurely lifestyle.
The rest is history.
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JACK.
