Hello ODK History Lovers
This is my Raiders of the Lost Ark story for 2016 - but about a ... lawnmower!

In late 2015, Geoff Nowak, from South Australia, sent me some perplexing images
depicting a most unusual reel mower described as a 'Marvel'. But there was
something not quite right ...

Geoff Nowak is the Grandson of Sid Bowditch, one of the great lawnmower designers
of the pioneering Scott Bonnar Company of South Australia [see Related Links].

Geoff sent me these images, not because of that family connection, but because of
his love of photography and his recording of SA history - museums, towns, industry,
etc. His Flickr Photostream can be found HERE.

The lawnmower was a collection piece held by the Saddleworth Museum, a small town
located in the Mid North region of South Australia in the local area known as the
Gilbert Valley.

The lawnmower was not so big - 18 inches cut - but had a massive twin-cylinder
motorcycle engine to power it, and I recognised it as a Douglas motorcycle engine.
There appeared to be signs of modification to the original machine. The alarm bells
sounded ...

With heart palpitating, I wondered whether the secret signature on this machine
said Scott Bonnar - because I had identified and written about an early Scott Bonnar
photograph depicting a large Douglas-powered reel lawnmower [see Related Links].

Was it possible this was, in fact, an imported lawnmower that Scott Bonnar powered?
Their first mowers, after all, were just that!

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

This led me on an adventure!
TO BE CONTINUED ...