Hello ODK History Lovers
In the mid to late 1950s Villager lawnmowers was a threat to Victa.
In the 1960s, Villager required new capital to develop new mowers that would
compete with a whole new breed of modern designs. They gave it a go - but they
didn't succeed. This is the story of a company that could have been.

Villager made mowers from about 1956. They didn't start small, though; there
was capital behind this operation, and 'connections' that gave Villager a
nationwide network of dealerships.

Villager Lawnmowers were made by the Villager Company Pty. Ltd. of
35 Higginbotham Road, Gladesville. The company also made outboards and
distributed other products, like air conditioners, and the Vinco Blitz
garden tiller.

The founding directors of Villager appear to have been Gordon Dumas, John Meek
and George Horner - at least that's what Villiers Magazine said in a feature in
April, 1957.

[Linked Image]
Source: Thanks to Greg Stokes from NZ for scanning his copy.

Surprisingly, one of the founders of Villager, John Meek, had a Victa connection -
and once worked in Merv Richardson's office!

John Mason, in his memoir The Victa Story: Turning Grass into Lawn, tells the
story of his early days at Victa - when the 'Concord Showroom' and offices
were situated on Parramatta road, before the days of a dealer network.

This was 1955, when Mason became Victa's first General Sales Manager.
John Mason said:

"I have mentioned that Merv's office was very basic mainly because space
was at a premium and as the draughtsman had his drawing board at one end
when private conversations were held the draughtsman was asked to leave -
(this man was John Meek who later joined two other partners to produce an
opposition rotary mower by the name of 'The Villager'.)"

The first Villager mowers were 'toe cutters' and clearly 'inspired' by Victas.
Villager diversified and was one of the first Australian rotary mower manufacturers
to appreciate the concept of a 'product range'. The three directors' names appear on
Villager's most significant patent - for twin cooling (see links below).

This is the Villager story - as incomplete as it is.

To be continued ...