Send email to Powerhouse Museum
Please indicate your interest in the attached collection. If this enquiry relates to a research project a brief out outline would be appreciated
*Please complete all fields in the form.
Names
Victa Lawnmower Collection
IDs
2033
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/collection=Victa_Lawnmower
Descriptions
A collection of objects relating to Mervyn Victor Richardson and the Victa company. It includes lawnmowers, the first dating from 1953, as well as archival material and promotional material such as signs and pamphlets.
Mervyn Victor Richardson developed the Victa rotary lawn-mower in August 1952. It was not the first rotary lawn-mower ever developed, but it was cheaper, lighter and easier to use than the mowers that came before. Mervyn advertised his new mowers and sold them from his home. Demand for the mowers was high with the growth of post-war suburbia. Soon Mervyn had to expand the business to a new location and Victa Mowers Pty Ltd was born. From the early days Victa effectively used marketing to promote and sell its mowers. It pioneered TV advertising in Australia, using celebrity endorsements and combining them with extensive newspaper and print media campaigns. Victa set up a network of distributors and trained them in promotion and sales. By 2002, after almost 50 years of operation, 6.5 million Victa mowers had been sold in 30 countries around the world. This collection of artefacts and objects includes a number of Victa lawnmowers including the first Victa mower. It also contains photographs, publicity material, catalogues and videos of TV advertisements.
Some material included in this collection may be subject to copyright.
By appointment
Parts of this collection are digitised and available on the Powerhouse Museum website.
Subjects
Archives; Catalogues; Lawnmowers; Photographs; Signs
Australian product design; Gardening; Suburban life
Mervyn Victor Richardson; Victa
Coverage Spatial
New South Wales, Australia
Coverage Temporal
1953
2008
Related Collections
Dates
2012-05-30 23:41
2011-03-08 15:02