Examples of the almost lost Australian art of billycart making surfaced on Magnetic Island at a garage sale held to cash in on all the people driving about to vote on election day .
Both were built from old lawnmowers, the one above from a Rover , odd bits of timber and metal. The hotrod below utilised an old Victa mower component as the base .
They were built about 15 years ago by Don Lowe for his grandchildren . The first billycart he built, for his son , was in Tasmania , where he was a dairy farmer ; that son is now in his 50s . As the grandchildren grew , he made adjustments to the footrests to accommodate longer legs ; the pushing and steering arms also had to be adjusted along the way .
Don grew cut flowers on the Atherton Tablelands before he retired to the island about 15 years ago , a move which enabled him to make use of his billycart building skills . The billycarts were bought by a local woman with four boys .
