By Patrick Avenell

Sixty years after the first Victa was assembled in a suburban Sydney backyard, the most famous brand in Australian lawncare is currently celebrating its Diamond Jubilee. Now owned by Wisconsin engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton, the company continues to manufacture lawn mowers in western Sydney in a nod to its founder and namesake Mervyn Victor Richardson.

"The anniversary is a celebration of more than 8 million Victa lawn mowers sold in more than 30 countries," said a company spokesperson. "It is a long way from the small cottage industry that car salesman and avid inventor Mervyn Victor Richardson started in 1952, when tinkering in his Concord, NSW garage. Richardson wanted to build a motorised mower to help out his son Gary who had started his own lawn mowing business."

Click here to sign up for our FREE daily newsletter
Follow Current.com.au on Twitter

Here are some of the classic early model Victas:

Victa claims much of its early success was due to pioneering work in advertising and public relations.

"Public relations campaigns were a key element of marketing early on, helping generate extra publicity for the company. Victa staff visited schools, churches, cemeteries and other sites providing free mowing services. This activity gave Victa free publicity in local newspapers and raised the profile of the company within the community."

Here are some examples of Victa's print creative:

The Victa brand is now sold in such diverse countries as Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Nigeria, Mauritius and Oman.