The Goldfields Cycle Express History
by Gary Cowans
The Coolgardie Cycle Express, a pioneering mail service on the goldfields before telegraphy, thrived on swift desert deliveries but succumbed to competition and changing technology, leaving behind colourful camel-stamped memories.
Coolgardie Cycle Express Co. was a delivery service that began with a mail delivery from Coolgardie to Ora Banda on a bicycle in 1893. In early 1984 they expanded the service to Southern Cross and the locations as listed in a card issued by the Proprietor James A. Healy.
A Limited company was formed in May 1984 and the company issued its own postage stamps.
Sadly, the limited company was only short lived as the telegraph line reached Coolgardie & Kalgoorlie from Southern Cross in August 1894 the company was liquidated. However, the company continued to operate to other locations as advertised:
Coolgardie Miner on the 18 August 1894.
Our readers and the public generally will be pleased to hear that the good work hitherto performed by the Coolgardie Cycle Express Co., Ltd. (now in liquidation), in opening up and maintaining communication with the outer centres is not to be allowed to lapse.
As will be noticed on reference to our advertising columns, a new company has been formal, having for its objects the undertaking and prompt dispatch of all express message and other business between the various mining centres, camps and rushes on the field. The services of the best cyclists, Including Mr. J. H. C. Bamlett and other cracks have been secured, and we trust that the new company by executing all business entrusted to them promptly and efficiently will earn that confidence and patronage from the public which their enterprise certainly deserves. Full particulars as to terms, timetables, etc., may be had on application to the agents, Messrs. O’Driscoll. Scott & Rebbeck.
Coolgardie Cycle Express Co Advertisement – Photo Flickr
Some cyclists soon left the employee of the Coolgardie Express and set up their own agencies in Dundas and Menzies.
A trip from Coolgardie to Dundas was described in the
Coolgardie Miner 15 Sep 1894, Page 3 – A TRIP TO DUNDAS.
A new line of Cycle Express has been opened to carry on the useful work of the defunct company, and the initial trip was commenced on Saturday 25th ult., when Mr. Jas. H. C. Bamlett left to establish a regular weekly service between Coolgardie and Dundas. Mr. Bamlett has supplied us with the following interesting account of the trip:
Having ascertained that the distance to Dundas was about 150 miles, and that the track was almost entirely unfrequented I took the precaution to supply myself with a sufficient quantity of provisions to carry me through and fastened to the frame of the machine the indispensable water bag and rug.
Thus equipped I left Coolgardie at 9am and sped along the Esperance Bay track. The riding on the horse pad for the first forty miles was fairly good, but then at intervals there came sand patches, which were more conducive to perspiration than comfort. By evening I had ridden about sixty-five miles and was within 5 miles of Sunday Soak, where there is an excellent ” turn out.” Early dawn found me again on the track. The road was. very lonely and not even a single traveller passed to break the unvarying monotony of mile, after mile of forest and scrub, red soil, and sand. As evening drew on I pulled up and camped alongside a hollow log, to which I set fire, and thus secured a warm though lonely camp. The distance travelled during the day was about seventy miles. Next morning stumps and scrub made the road very bad for riding as far as, McPherson’s Rock, where the road turns off to the left, thence into Dundas eight miles further; the riding was good. I arrived about mid-day and proceeded to Mawson’s Reward-Claim, where I was most hospitably received by the manager, Mr. A. R. Browne.
Water was very plentiful all the way from Coolgardie at the various soaks, but here, they have been threatened with a water famine, owing to the soaks at Dundas and McPherson Rock having entirely given out. This difficulty was overcome by Mr. Browne, who erected a condenser capable of turning out 80 gallons per day; he intends to erect a plant capable of turning out 2000 gallons per day, and in addition to this the Mawson’s Reward Co. has two large dams with good catchments in the course of construction. The Government is also constructing a. large dam at the township, so there is not likely to be any further scarcity of water.
The Great Dundas Mine is on the North side of Lake Cowan, one mile from the township, and has a reef twelve feet wide, estimated to average two ounces per ton. Two tons of unpicked stone shipped for treatment gave a return of 2½ ounces per ton. The Mawson’s Reward Claim is 1½ miles east of the Great Dundas. This property has been acquired by an English company with ample capital to develop it. Prior to my arrival everyone was on a short allowance of food, owing to the teams from Esperance Bay being delayed on the road. Preparations had been made to temporarily abandon the field, but this was happily rendered unnecessary by the safe arrival of the teams. A new reefing find has been made about18 miles north of Dundas, where excellent stone has been unearthed by Sinclair & Allsop. The line of reef outcrops for 1½ miles, with a width of over 3 feet. There is a cleared road from Dundas to the find. On Sinclair and Allsop’s lease the stone averages 30 oz. per ton, and the adjoining lease owned by the Sydney Prospecting Co., is even richer. One specimen measuring 12 inches by 9 inches contains 30oz. of gold. Altogether the prospects of the field appear very good, and with the establishment of regular communication with Coolgardie, there is little doubt that it will soon command further attention.
Having completed my arrangements. I returned by the Wigiemoola track, which I found to be almost destitute of water, and arrived in Coolgardie in 46 hours. The machine I rode was a Vanguard, and I have every reason to be satisfied with its strength and easy-running qualities.
From ‘The Bicycle and the Bush’ by Jim Fitzpatrick
In early 1895 the public complained about the cost of the mail service and encouraged more competition and lobbied for a government service at a meeting of the Norseman Progress League as below.
Norseman. March 23 1895.
A largely attended general meeting of the Progress League took place on Saturday afternoon to make a definite move re postal arrangements. Great dissatisfaction was expressed by all the speakers at the manner in which the field has been humbugged in this important particular, the long promised fortnightly service via Esperance being apparently no nearer than it was three months ago, when a decision was arrived at to run same. It was unanimously resolved that a petition be drawn up for signature and forwarded on to the Postmaster-General, asking that a fortnightly service from Esperance and a weekly one from Coolgardie be granted the large and growing population on the Dundas goldfields. The field hitherto has had to depend chiefly on the cycle express, via Coolgardie, but this has been a heavy drain on the residents here, and it is high time that the proper authorities should afford regular and cheaper facilities than can be given by private parties. Owing to the exorbitant charges fixed by the cycle representative for the future, it has been decided to run an opposition cycle express, Mr. W. Miller, a champion amateur ruler of Dorsetshire, undertaking the venture at considerably reduced rates. The authorities will therefore easily see that residents are helping themselves, and consequently should receive every consideration for their very moderate demands.
In July 1895 Healy from the Coolgardie Cycle Express bought out the Dundas competition.
Coolgardie Pioneer (WA) 3 Jul 1895, Page 3.
Mr. J. Healy commission agent, reports the sale of the goodwill of the cycle service between here and Dundas, lately carried on by Mr Bamlett, to Messrs Miller and Kilminster, who will run under the name of the Coolgardie Cycle Express.
The stamps first used by the company were plain blue as below.
The stamps were cancelled with a steel stamp (with violet ink) showing
‘Per Coolgardie Cycle Express Co., Hunt-street’ Later, a new supply of stamps was obtained, consisting of three values 6d., 2/, and 5/. These were lithographed in two colours.
The centre showing a camel and rider travelling across the desert with the setting sun in the distance. They were inscribed:
‘Coolgardie Cycle Express Company, Western Australia.”
The value appeared in figures in each corner, and in words at the foot of the stamp. Some cycling records were put up by the cyclists for the Coolgardie Cycle Express Company, notably by Charlie Bamlett and ‘Wally’ Hamblin.
W ‘Wally’ HAMBLIN – Coolgardie Pioneer 29 July 1896
In addition to the stamps issued by the Coolgardie Cycle Express Company, another local stamp was used for a short period between Lake Lefroy and Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie.
The Coolgardie Cycle Express, a pioneering desert mail service from 1893, folded in December 1896 after facing competition from telegraphs and government postal services. Although short-lived, it left behind a legacy of swift deliveries and unique camel-stamped memories.
Stamp photo credit: Richard Juzwin Stamps
Moya Sharp
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Thank you Gary Cowans the stories, and Moya for presenting this item.
I am delighted to read about this Cycle Express. My Grandfather John Nicholas worked for the Post Office at Bulong in the approximate years 1896 to 1898. He delivered mail to various nearby towns, riding a bicycle over bush tracks. He wrote about incidents in letters to his sweetheart in Port Adelaide, SA during those years.
May you both live long and happy!
Rose.