OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Model Histories AUSTRALIAN Rotary Models MINI-MASTER - c1966

Hello ODK history lovers
The Mini-Master was a small Australian-made petrol-powered
rotary that sold here from about 1966.

Powered by a small Japanese Tanaka engine, it remains a mystery
who made this rotary lawnmower on these shores.



This was an entry-level or economy machine – most likely the
cheapest new lawnmower sold in the 1960s. My best guess is
that it was marketed through chain appliance stores like Canberra’s
Eric Anderson.

A continual and frustrating fact is that copyright currently restricts
solving this issue. I simply have insufficient information. Can you help?

This does not mean this mower leaves no clues…

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART TWO – Identity Design Clues
Yes, I know this is speculation …

I knew, when I wrote here in 2013, that the Mini-Master chassis
had Tecnico lineage [Tecnico was Australia’s first rotary mower].
That pressed steel chassis shape said it all.

That topic can be found HERE.

But this was no Tecnico chassis from the Tecnico days.
The British Pye Company took over Tecnico in the mid-1950s,
and they continued manufacture of the Tecnico electric
lawnmowers for a few years – but with stylistic changes …

The Pye electric lawnmower of c1960 incorporated design
features that would be used on the Mini Master. Note the
similar pressed chassis and front wheels. Note the wheel
scrapers [one just visible on the Pye].

Most importantly, not the triangular styling cues [the ‘reuleaux’
triangle] incorporated into the pressed steel base and also
evident in the Pye’s motor nameplate. Coincidence? I think not.



TO BE CONTINUED …

PART THREE – An Oddity
For completeness, I feel I should add an observation about another
Australian company that used the ‘reuleaux’ triangle.
I don’t know what to make of it …

It could easily be a coincidence.

It was only used on one model – and it did not appear
on any other model of that manufacture. It was the …

… first model Whirlwind rotary, the Whirlwind 18” of about 1955-56.
Note that it is a base feature but with no other seeming purpose beyond
for fronting the brand name and cutting width. Also note that the
Whirlwind had an early side discharge alloy skirted base; the Mini-
Master had a pressed steel base of the mulching type.

Is there a connection between the Mini-Master, Pye Electric and the
Whirlwind? Who knows! There is a clear connection between the Pye
and the Mini-Master; a seeming tenuous connection with the Whirlwind.
I don’t know. You decide. I’m just sayin’.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART FOUR – Conclusion
The Mini-Master appears to have been sold for a limited period …
maybe just one season [1966-67]. I have little evidence of its existence:
perhaps a dozen newsprint ads and that’s it!

The only ads I have come from the Canberra Times and all
come from the great Eric Anderson chain of appliance stores.
So, was this a mower made just for Eric Anderson? I don’t know.

In the late 1966 advertisement below, note the Mini-Master sold
alongside Anderson’s store brand, the E.A. Lawn Master.

Note the price differential between Victa’s Flagship Corvette and the Mini-Master!



I guess the Mini-Master represents the advent of the economy
rotary lawnmower that emerged in the 1960s. It had to compete
with the big AUS players who made the best domestic rotaries
in the World at that time.

The Mini-Master was an honest mower for the battlers, and I
guess its Japanese power unit was the first example of
Japanese engines used on AUS-made domestic rotary lawnmowers.

How times would change …