In 2020 the CALHN Health Museum received an interesting piece of South Australian history. A Gopher!
The mobility scooter was made by Grant Telfer, who is perhaps best known as the creator of the iconic Monash playground in the Riverland. Telfer was the first to use the gopher name in association with mobility scooters with the name becoming synonymous with the mobility aids.
At its peak, Telfer’s company, Grant Engineering, was selling 1200 scooters a year. He continued to make scooters until 2000, when the lower cost of imported scooters meant that locally made scooters could no-longer compete. Grant Telfer died December 2021 at the age of 89.
The gopher came to us from the Domiciliary Equipment Services (DES), a government organisation that provided various equipment and home modification services to South Australians.
Find out more information on the Gopher here.
Written by Jonathan Hull, CALHN Health Museum