OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Machine Histories ELDER PARK DEMO - and Scott Bonnar

Hello ODK History Lovers

This is an important post concerning the Scott Bonnar Company and their first power mowers of 1923.
The bigger significance, though, lies in the early development of electric-powered lawnmowers.

The story of how the Company became involved with lawnmowers is straight-forward, and I have read it
many times from a few primary sources. Its source, no doubt, is Malcolm Bonnar's Memoirs, privately
published in early 1971.

The Scott Bonnar Company was formed from the partnership of two brothers: Scott Bonnar, and his elder
brother, Malcolm, in early 1920. The company was essentially a small brass foundry and brass finishing
company for the first three years of its operation - that is, 1920 to 1922.

However, a seminal triggering event occurred in 1923 that would change the destiny of the company -
its seeming introduction to lawnmowers - brought about by a request of a long-time friend of Malcolm's,
the Adelaide bootmaker Tom Harrison.

This post challenges Malcolm's long-time-after recollection of these events with respect to a couple
of significant details. I will present the story of a demonstration of an electric lawnmower, held in
the historic Elder Park (by an unknown inventor) in 1920. First, I will let Malcolm tell the story in
his own words:



There is no dispute that the first 'Scott Bonnars' were converted machines: imported electric motors
coupled with imported British reel/roller push mowers (secondhand or new). The company manufactured
these on the basis that they bought the relevant 1919 patent from an unknown (un-named) Adelaide inventor.
These were the machines made between 1923 and 1925.

In his Memoir (extract), Malcolm specifically discusses an unsuccessful demonstration of the patentee's
electrically powered mower at Adelaide Oval in 1919. It is also made clear in his words "we found out ...
that Malcolm's 1968 recollection was that he did not know about the demonstration before the company
started making these converted lawnmowers in 1923.

I personally don't see how that's right. I have never been able to locate any record of a 1919
demonstration of an electric mower at Adelaide Oval. I have found, however, a number of newsprint
records of a demonstration of an electric mower held at historic Elder Park in 1920.

This demonstration did receive good coverage in Adelaide newspapers and, according to the press, was a
successful one. It is important to note that Elder Park is just across the river from the Adelaide Oval,
and was within two kilometres of Scott Bonnar's first premises at Chapel Street, Southwark (now Thebarton.)

TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART TWO - Elder Park & That Demonstration

Elder Park is a public landmark in the city of Adelaide, on the southern bank of the River Torrens.
It is the most historic and romantic of Adelaide's parks; with its elegant Victorian-era Rotunda.

The Elder Park Rotunda was erected in 1882. It is the home of the annual Christmas Carols by Candlelight
for Adelaide and also hosts Symphony under the Stars and the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Note the proximity
to the Adelaide Oval, Arts and Entertainment precincts:-



[As a side-note, I discovered that the park is named after the Elder family who were early settlers
and developed the company Elder Smith (previously known as Goldsbrough Mort).I guess that fact reflects
the great commercial activity that surrounded Adelaide in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.]

From the early days, Elder Park was a social meeting place for many public events and the Adelaide
City Council used it as a venue for demonstrations. Here is what the park looked like in about 1920:



[Courtesy of State Library of S.A. Elder Park Collection HERE.]

The public notice of an electric mower demonstration was of some public interest. Electricity,
the marvel of the age, was increasingly making its role present in trams and street lighting.
Here is the first notice of the demonstration:-



The demonstration was held on 30 March, 1920 at 3 p.m. and by accounts in the Wednesday papers,
it was successful:-



On the following Saturday, the 3rd April, there was more coverage of the event - and a poem written by
the Mail's resident poet for the event:-



The following Saturday after that, April 10, there was yet another article. This one, again,
reiterating the view of earlier reports that the demonstration was a 'pronounced success'.
The company behind the demonstration was the well-known firm of Harris, Scarfe, & Company.



TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART THREE - Significance

It's probably true to say that Scott Bonnar was the first company to commercially power lawnmowers
in this country. They did this, as the story goes, upon the invitation of a friend, Tom Harrison, in
1923. Immediately after this, Scott and Malcolm recognised the commercial possibilities of the powered
machine, and started converting imported hand mowers to power. These were initially targeted at bowling
clubs, but this was extended to their use on tennis courts and residential lawns.

At some point a patentee [who we now know to be Edward Bisdee Keele] approached the Bonnars about
infringement of his 1920 patent. This was settled with the company buying the patent, and the company
proceeded to improve their design and expand their market.

The bigger picture is the early use of electricity as a power source for lawnmowers. It was a natural
progression - from human, to animal, to steam, to petrol, and then to electric motor. The commercial
viability of electric powered mowers was, obviously, stifled and hindered by the domestic electrification
of households.

That a confirmed demonstration did take place at Elder Park in 1920 is of some historical importance.
It would not be till the mid-1920s until a commercially available unit - the Ransomes Electra - became
available in the old world, so it is of some significance that an Australian patent was taken out some
time before this, and Scott Bonnar was converting machines to electric power from 1923.
Well done Australia!

SIR PERCY SCOTT
A final word should be given to a small story that appeared in SA and NSW newspapers in September of 1920,
some six months after the Elder Park demonstration. It is reported to have come from the London Times and
then the Daily Mail.

Admiral Sir Percy Scott, like our Australian Patentee, was dabbling in electricity at about the same time.
For those interested, here's a picture of Sir Percy...


Source:A good bio can be found on Wikipedia

There is much to admire about Sir Percy Scott, 1st Baronet KCB KCVO LL.D.
He was certainly a radical thinker, and as I understand it, he was quite critical of the disastrous Gallipoli offensive.

Here is a sample of the Australian reports from 1920. He was quite the inventor and prophet...




The rest is history.
---------------------------------
JACK.

MACHINE HISTORIES



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