Early 20th C. Australian Bike Culture

February 25, 2012 1:35 PM

While digging through the archive of the State Library of New South Wales, I came across these stunning public domain images of early 20th century bike culture in Australia, equal parts sweet (all those tandems!), inspirational (a record-breaking ride from Sydney to Melbourne in 3 days and 7 hours!), and scandalous (NB: Annie is wearing trousers!)
posted by zamboni (15 comments total)

That Malvern Star abreast tandem bicycle is fucking nuts.

Also while on holiday i had the pleasure of browsing the state libraries of New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria. i found them all to be fantastic!
posted by Harpocrates at 2:18 PM on February 25, 2012

Nice, I love me some vintage bicycles!
posted by carter at 2:25 PM on February 25, 2012

These are awesome. It's amazing how modern this one looks.
posted by doctor_negative at 2:26 PM on February 25, 2012

No multi-geared transmission, tho. Makes her ride all the more impressive.
posted by mojohand at 2:30 PM on February 25, 2012

TISM
posted by a non e mouse at 2:38 PM on February 25, 2012 [2 favorites]

And seeing it's Sunday, some more old-skool bike memorabilia
posted by a non e mouse at 2:40 PM on February 25, 2012

Yeah that tandem looks like some kind of optical illusion...
posted by Jimbob at 3:10 PM on February 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Jimbob: "Yeah that tandem looks like some kind of optical illusion..."

They are called sociables.
posted by idiopath at 4:15 PM on February 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

A couple of years ago I was involved in a project with the State Library of South Australia. I forget the details now, so I might be making some of this up, but I think they'd inherited a bunch of old 16mm film from some old collection, and they wanted to show some of it off as part of the Adelaide Film Festival.

Some of it was "noteworthy", like a couple of visits by the Queen. There were some promotional films for local developments. One film about the old John Martins Chistmas Pageant. Even a making-of for an old SAFC-funded film. There was also some hilariously banal stuff like a 15-minute long film about a couple of kids having an awesome fun day skipping school. Of course they were later buried in sand never to be heard from again at the end. (in other words, a real DON'T DATE ROBOTS film)

It was around about this time that I started developing my paranoia about maintaining data. I work on a lot of stuff which never again need see the light of day, but that's a pretty myopic point of view if I really think about it. Even the most throwaway little student production says something about the time, and about the people making it. Compare a home movie to a government funded film of a royal visit. Which is going to say more about the reality of everyday life at the time of production?

I envy archivists for the importance of their work.

Also, these are some cool bikes. Do we even have skipping champions anymore? Perhaps we should.
posted by dumbland at 4:28 PM on February 25, 2012

Very cool!
posted by OmieWise at 4:50 PM on February 25, 2012

Skipping Sydney to Brisbane is hard core.
posted by arcticseal at 4:52 PM on February 25, 2012

That inspired me to see what we could find here in New Zealand.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:05 PM on February 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

That inspired me to see what we could find here in New Zealand.

Cyclists' Exchange, 1895.
Christchurch's Bicycle Band, 1898 and another picture from the 1900s.
1900s firefighting bakfiets.
1910 bike shop.
Two women on another sociable, 1910.
1925 studio portrait of a cyclist.
A 1940s tall bike.
Blind teenager, with others, riding tandem, 1957.
posted by zamboni at 8:26 PM on February 25, 2012 [2 favorites]

Ice cream, The health food of the nation!

I like these people.
posted by molecicco at 4:16 AM on February 26, 2012

'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk!
posted by rudster at 5:14 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]