Saving Old Seagulls

Foldaboat in 1957 An English Lady was hit in the head by one of our blackfellas with a boomerang at Lords in 1868! That was one hell of a throw. Aug '57 Interesting article about Malaya in July '59 Friday night here. I can relate.... July '55 Another NZ distributor March '51

i have 3 aunties that live in Wyoming when i was 12 they produced two boomerangs which my father displayed on his living room wall. we were 2 weeks away from emigrating when my parents backed out due to grand parents losing us little grand children.
ok 2 years ago my father give my 12 year old son the bent for display piece of wood.
so we chucked it in the air and man did it come back to us,, luck ,skill i promise it nearly chopped our heads off. it returned home no exaggeration..
it is black with red tips and has some strange writing on the tips.made for tourists but works a bit too well.

Feb '53 Forty plus Article April 1955 "The Little Forty Perfect" A nice informative advert Aug '54 April '55 Ryde Sydney

Amongst other Australian motors being built I've come across C Power. First I've heard of them. Feb '59 the Victa lawmower had their outboard option. Rather clever. May '60 Motor Cycle boat side car. "Canterbury Bell". English Cute. Oct '1960 Interesting the wooden crate was still in use. I think this is the first Century we have seen, and we know import restrictions have lifted. So far to summarise The British Seagull was certainly imported and sold throughout Australia apart, it appears, from Northern Territories. New Zealand has had two dealers in Auckland. Spedding Ltd in Dec '46 and Wisemans in March '51. The first portrayal of the 102 sub ejector was in July '52 but most likely produced a year or few before that. We already know that Seagull images on their adverts where not always correct for what they were selling ie old images/prints. It did indeed seem that there were import restrictions on British Seagull. There was a lull in adverts for British Seagull from April 1955 to August 1960. There has been some conjecture that the Australian Seagull that utilise many Seagull parts, The Olympic, was being built during this period. As per viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5305&p=44692&hilit=olympic#p44692 Bruce has a '52 one built before the restrictions, so that seems a fallacy. I have seen no adverts for the Olympic apart from the one on the main SOS site. I need to search further afield. Strangely enough the Anzani and Penta where advertised during this restrictive period?? More to come next week. Are you bored yet? Ha Ha.
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Thank You Hugo.....good reading and research.

This is the lid for AC17964 crate. It even says 50 and TC on the bottom.

Now I know exactly where it came from aye!

Well done son.
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Thanks Bruce. Interestingly Overland, Wickham St, Valley, Brisbane (now called Fortitude Valley) is now and probably was then, the red light district of Brisbane

Another grueling day chatting up librarians and checking publications. Left click twice to expand.

Feb '61 New style of advert. Full page. April '61 Nice photo. July '61 Aug '61 Electric Outboard. NSW distributor has changed to W Kopson. No adverts for three years. May '64

June '64 Outboard comparison. Gives an idea of the competition. Sept '64. Price list. THC102 still available. The average yearly wage was $5880 and a loaf of bread was 21cents. A weeks wage with overtime would get a nice motor. Wage in dollars and price list in pounds. We went decimal in Feb '64.Was 1 pound = 1 dollar? I was living in Malaya then.

Edit: 7.35pm 21/07. The Au pound was valued at $2, so a motor was actually 2 weeks worth plus OT. Here is an interesting article. Thames barge race under sail. Love to be a crew. Cool. Dec '63

What I'm beginning to realise, in my opinion, is the demise of British Seagull is not so much the advent of competition from other motors but more the changing technology of boat construction. In Australia the competition was the yanks and not the Japs. In the sixties aluminum and fiberglass boats where produced which are a lot stronger and can support a lot bigger horsepower motors compared to the traditional timber vessels. Reminds me of Henry Ford who couldn't understand why the "T" needed to be changed. I'm also seeing that there is a post war change of affluence and hedonism where V8 inboards and stacked shielas are the new standard.

The Au pound was valued at $2 in the decimal change over, so a motor was actually 2 weeks worth plus OT. In the British Isles the annual wage was 832 pounds a year in '64. At the time the Au dollars was worth .568 pounds. The THC in Oz was worth $258 Aus or 146 uk pounds. Can anyone in the Dart tell me the price of a TC102 in the UK in 1964?

Jon, in your research have you priced the 102 over there during the years? I think looking at the average wage the Seagull was a lot more affordable downunder by a large margin.

Hugo $258 divided by $2.21 average hourly rate 1964 = 116 hours, almost 3 weeks, not a fortune, your right.

The national average includes overtime.

Average weekly earnings here now is $1556. Hard to know what the average hours worked but say three weeks would make that seagull worth $4668 today. Looking at the buyer guide above the Evinrude (3hp) was 10% more expensive back then. (wasn't there a question the other day about a 3hp johnson/evinrude??) A 3.5hp Evinrude is now worth $1460.... less than one weeks work. Mind you in 1964 there were a lot more labouring/factory jobs than there are now so not really a true comparison. Are they made by chopsticks now?

Jon, can you give us some prices of a clutched 102 in the early sixties and ideally in 1964. Greatly appreciated.

I am surprised no comments with C-Powa?

They are very cool aye!

Apart from this black tank (Incorrect at time of photo)....... Goes like a screaming banshee................Balls and Rollers and crankcase reed valve.....
I have 4

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Wow! They sound impressive! I want one