PART TWO - BACKGROUND

Morrison was, arguably, New Zealand's most innovative lawn mower manufacturer.
Typical of these mower maker stories, Sidney Morrison founded Morrison Motor Mowers Ltd
in a garden shed and garage on Karamu Road, Hastings, in the early 1930s. Atypically, he
was a mechanical engineer, with the technical capacity and engineering know-how to
produce many innovative products.

It would appear that the first motor mowers appeared in the late 1930s, just before the
outbreak of WWII. The earliest NZ ad I have dates from 1940. The models sold in Australia,
however, were based on a post WW11 design that was sold in NZ, I think, from about 1945.

Here are two early illustrated NZ advertisements for the new model. Both come from the
Alexandra Herald, and date respectively from 1946 and 1948:-

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I do have some evidence that these machines did arrive in Australia from about 1947.
However, advertising was very limited, suggesting these were imported ad-hoc by a couple of
small dealers, and with no agencies or distribution network.

All that would change in the early 1950s with local production by Vulcan steel.
These would be the Sydney Morrisons covered in the next part.

TO BE CONTINUED ...