Australians and New Zealanders were early adopters of cycling, the Australian continent had been circumnavigated by bicycle by the early 1900’s – the first crossing of the Nullarbor plain by bicycle was in 1896 by Arthur Richardson.
There is a strong vintage cycling movement in both countries, and yet daily use cycling – riding to work and for shopping, etc – has been slow to take off. Unlike some other countries no real action was taken to control car use and they came to dominate the areas that would have ordinarily have been used by bicycle riders.
Originally created for the Australasian Cycling History Conference, this site will also carry reports and links to other cycling conferences, papers of interest and the more recent history of cycling in Australia. It is also intended that a history of the bicycle industry, in particular the Retail Cycle Traders Australia, Inc, will grace these pages in the future.
Articles, pictures and suggestions are welcome and will be credited.
This is a site about some Australasian cycling history. It’s not a definitive history by any means, in fact it is cycling history that I know about, have experienced and may have been a part of.