Hello All
I hope this will help.
The oldest manufacturers of cylinder (reel) mowers in WA are Dwyer&Felton (D&F) - now MowMaster (1948), Alroh (1951) and later M.E.Y. (~1985). Only MowMaster mowers are still manufactured. Up until the popularisation of rotary mowers (by Victa), cylinder mowers were the only mowers readily available to groundskeepers and some homeowners with British made mowers generally used in Perth.
In 1962 Perth hosted the Commonwealth/Empire Games and in the lead-up many world-class sporting surfaces (then all grass) had to be prepared. Preference was given to locally manufactured machines and this gave a real impetus to the local manufacturers (particularly Alroh) both for the demand for the games but also then exposing most of the population of Perth to how their lawn could really look. Not to be underestimated was the showmanship of Allan Hair (Allan Robin Hair = Al Ro H = Alroh) who rarely missed an opportunity to illustrate the merits of his mowers both for the quality of the job and for their robustness.
They were never cheap and found favour in the more prosperous river suburbs and natural competitiveness between homeowners meant that noone could compromise on their lawn (and I mean noone - using anything other than a cylinder mower was never considered because of the poorer finish). Every municipal body, sporting field (bowls, croquet, golf, tennis, football, athletics, schools ), and commercial operators (particularly hotels - wherever they had grounds to maintain - the first Alroh was built for the Peninsula Hotel) had cylinder mowers.
Cylinder (the UK term - mostly used in WA, versus "reel" - the US term) mowers are preferred by contractors because they are faster to mow with less passes (26" being the more-or-less standard cutting width - although many are 28"), they do a better job (the cut can't be better), and there is less down time (no blades to change or maintain).
Because of the historic use of cylinder mowers and the excellent examples of well maintained turf regularly seen by Perth residents (Perth's Kings Park is a showplace of turf with huge annual traffic as well, then there is the obvious examples of golfcourses) a Perth homeowner would turn away any contractor that turned up with a rotary mower to mow a showpiece lawn.
The sandier soils of Perth are relevant in that the fluted blades of rotary mowers (fluted in order to throw clippings away from the blades - and in to a catcher if used)cause an updraft and this fanning sucks up sand and damages the lawn by sandblasting it. It also shortens the life of the rotary mower deck (this is why rotary mowers decks have a short life in WA).
The is no argument that different varieties of lawn respond better to different mowers. All grass is cut better with cylinder mowers. Bernhard & Co (makers of cylinder grinders) used to have a great explanatory video about this.
Probably enough for the moment! The reason = historic circumstance meets commercial reality.
