By 19 May 1949 the first shipment of Lambretta trucks were already on their way to Australia aboard the ship "S. S. Ridderkerk" and it was due to arrive in Sydney on the 15th June 1949.
 
Sam Jamieson by 19 May 1949 was using the 50 York Street Sydney address as his postal address and it was the same address as that used by H. H. Halls Pty. Ltd, who in an article in the June 1949 edition of "Motorcycling in Australia" was named as the the importer of Lambrettas. Given the fact that a few years later a company known as Jamieson and Halls were the importers, that Sam Jamieson and H. H. Halls were the importers of Lambretta. 

Over the years, there were a number of distributors around Australia, reflecting our seemingly national distrust of anything that even smacks of Federal.
 
The 1950's saw two monotube racers being imported, both of which exist today. one of which re-surfaced for the first time at our 60th anniversary celebrations in Sydney in October 2007. Also, a team from Winterbottom's, in Perth, took a word record for distance in 24 hours, and won a gold medal from Innocenti for the effort. Today, one of the Team Member's Nephews runs Casa Lambretta Australia, and still owns his Uncle's 'D'.
 
In the Mid 60's Lambretta seemed to loose its way a little, and the imports seriously dried up, with new machines being canabilised to keep existing machines on the road. This seems to be born out by the rarity of original Australian Import SX200's and other models of that era.

In May 1969, Lambretta Concessionaires, of UK infamy, announced that they had taken over the Australian national distributorship, as well as New Zealand, Tahiti, Noumea, Fiji and Hawaii. They based themselves in Artarmon, Sydney, and invested $500,000 into the venture wanting to capture 15% of the 2-wheel market in Australia. 

On the 14th August 1969, Lambretta (Australiasia) Pty Ltd introduced the GP and Luna range to Australia and there seemed to be some excitement from the press. Unusually, both ranges were introduced with indicators, ready for the expected national requirement. The GP's were even used by Australia Post and there are a few examples of "Postie" Bikes still around, although few are in their original livery. By 1971, though, it was all over from the Italian Factory.
 
Through the 1970's and 1980's we have examples of the Spanish Lambrettas being imported through Paul John's Scooter Centre of Perth, and the SIL built Lambrettas also being imported at least from 1981 through into the 1990's via various dealers.
 
Today, there are still Lambrettas being imported by a couple of shops, or by private individuals. Obviously, these are all now second hand. We seem to have become a source of machines for the Luna range, though, as we seem to have had a high proportion of these radical machines.
 
2009 saw 60 Years of the World's Finest Scooter in Australia and, especially considering our remoteness, the marque is still going strong. Recognised for the beautiful machines that they are.

*with thanks to "Aussie Racer", for much of the research