OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Personal Histories MERVYN RICHARDSON: - He Mowed His Road To Clover

Hello ODK History Lovers

This is a sub-article to a set of postings on the Dimarco Brothers, who had an
Authorised Victa dealership in Sydney, starting in the mid-1950s.

This post discusses a particular featurette - a small feature article - that formed
part of a full-page advertisement the Dimarcos placed in a Sydney local newspaper,
the Biz, in late 1956. The outline of the featurette is shown below:-



In the next part I include a full (unedited) transcription of the text.
I follow this with my commentary - detailing significant points (and quotes)
within the article.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

COMMENTARY

This late 1956 advertisement has a featurette encapsulating the Victa state-of-play
at this time. We learn that self-taught Mervyn Richardson is 62 years of age and he
now has 156 employees producing Victa lawnmowers.

[1] FIRST COMMENT:

We learn some curious things about the events leading to the first Victa rotary:
Mervyn says that he, 'converted a pusher type to power by fitting a pulley and belt
drive to the family mower'. This is described as the 'Richardson No.1 mower'.

That is a most curious point and I suspect less-than-correct. It makes nice
advertorial, but it neglects the Victa Power Reel Mower that I have written about
in the History Forum (see Related Links below). The Victa reel mower was not a
conversion of a 'pusher type mower', but a purpose-built powered reel mower.

[2] SECOND COMMENT:

The principle of the rotary mower was not new when the Richardson family became
interested. There had been electrical rotary mowers on the market for some years.

Hallelujah! Many modern authorities, and collectors, have missed that point, yet
this article gets it right. I have argued that the 1948 Tecnico is, rightfully, our
first rotary lawnmower.

[3] THIRD COMMENT:

And petrol engines had been installed on reel type mowers since 1920.

The reference here must be to the popularisation of the 'lightweight' lawnmower.
Petrol engines appeared on lawnmowers from 1902. By 1920, companies realised that
smaller, lighter lawnmowers were the way forward. Atco, for example, showed us that
lawnmowers could be made lighter and cheaper.

[4] FOURTH COMMENT:

What Mr. Richardson did was to marry the light, rotary mower, which could cut
all heights and thicknesses of grass, to a small, two-stroke motor.

There is some controversy where that idea came from. Regardless, this was not a
new idea: but the Victa was the first Australian-made rotary to use a light-weight
vertical shaft engine, quickly followed by the likes of TAD and Grasshopper.

[5] FIFTH COMMENT:

Practically his entire product is sub-contracted ... "farmed out" to other engineering works.

This should be nothing new. It is generally accepted that many Victa components were
made by outside contractors to Victa's needs or designs. Victa, however, would produce
more in-house parts as the company developed.

[6] SIXTH COMMENT:

Mr. Richardson has also introduced an employment policy which he refers to as
"a socialist form of capitalism."

For me, this is the most interesting point. It may be that Mervyn Richardson was an
Australian visionary in this regard: profit sharing, bonuses, incentives and a lending
scheme! These are noble ideas; most lost in our modern world:

"We think it's a good wage, but the company's making money and we don't want it all
for ourselves."

"Mr. Richardson's philosophy of employer - employee relationship is that a feeling of
security makes for a contented employee."

We have lost so much of this 'socialist capitalism' today. This revealing fist-hand
look at the early days of Victa is as revolutionary as the rotary mower was. This 1956
article reveals the thoughts of the man himself - Mervyn Victor Richardson. For a man
who lived through the Great Depression, his philosophy is inspirational ... that he never
lost his sense of consideration of others less fortunate.

The rest is history.
---------------------------------
JACK


A good quality pdf is available for this whole-page advertisement:-

DIMARCO BROTHERS & VICTA
THE FIRST VICTA



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