The peach-tin mower

Victa began in a Sydney backyard. In August 1952 Mervyn Victor Richardson built a rotary lawnmower at Concord, New South Wales, from scrap metal with a peach tin as its fuel tank. It was cheaper and lighter than its rivals, demand exploded, and by 1958 the company named after his middle name had 3,000 employees at Milperra building 143,000 mowers a year for 28 countries.

A lawnmower maker takes to the air

Richardson loved aeroplanes, and he had money to spend. In 1960 Victa undertook to build the Airtourer, a light two-seater designed by Henry Millicer, chief aerodynamicist of the Government Aircraft Factories, which had won a Royal Aero Club design competition in 1953. A wooden prototype built by enthusiasts first flew at Moorabbin on 31 March 1959; Victa’s new Aviation Division at Milperra produced the all-metal 100 hp and 115 hp versions from 1961, sold with an instalment plan that made them very popular.

No help from Canberra

Victa also certified Millicer’s four-seat Aircruiser and flew the R-2 prototype in 1961, but the Australian government refused tariff protection or subsidies against imported aircraft. Victa halted Airtourer production in February 1966 and closed the Aviation Division on 20 January 1967. New Zealand’s AESL bought the rights, built 80 more Airtourers and turned the Aircruiser into the CT/4 Airtrainer. Victa itself still makes garden equipment.

Továrny

• Milperra works · Milperra, New South Wales — Mower factory from 1958 and home of the Aviation Division

Lidé

• Mervyn Victor Richardson · founder, chairman — Inventor of the Victa mower
• Henry Millicer · designer — Airtourer and Aircruiser
• Garry Richardson · chairman from 1965