Hello ODK History Lovers

This story is about the William Adams Company. This is background information
to the only lawnmower they made " the Presto" - 'The Magic Mower' of 1932
(see Related Reading). The main focus, though, is my desire to understand why
a few of these large engineering companies started the Australian lawnmower
industry. That will be discussed in Part Two.

William Adams Company survived a century as a continuous entity, until its
takeover by Tubemakers of Australia Limited. It started out as an importer
of engineers' supplies, but became ... a company selling everything!

As the official biography says, "Typical of many merchant companies, it
first sold 'Everything for the engineer' - "from heavy engineering equipment
to nuts and bolts" and even those essential items for men on the land, such
as rabbit exterminators! Later, it moved into the distribution of steel,
aluminium and heavy earthmoving equipment."

[Linked Image]
Image: NLA http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/51555961

Adams became one of Australia's largest merchant companies - a manufacturer
in its own right, but mostly a distributor of Australian and imported goods.

Here is an archive record from the Australian National University:

[Linked Image]

TO BE CONTINUED ...