An advertisement I've found appears to backdate the release of the Model 1 by a couple of months:

June 8th, 1955 - Richmond and Windsor Gazette

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I've also tracked down Merv Richardson's earliest patent, which predates the release of the Model 1 by only a couple of months. It possibly also represents one of the earliest illustrations of the mower:


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Attachments
1955_patent_8359.pdf (135.15 KB, 9 downloads)
VICTA PATENT 8359 of 1955
Last edited by CyberJack; 30/12/15 07:52 AM. Reason: Added attachment.