Cycling was slow to develop in Western Australia but with the opening of the Coolgardie goldfield in 1892, the cycling scene changed abruptly. The scarcity of water and stock feed and their high cost made the upkeep of horses and camels a burden. The large mining population and heavy private and government investment needed rapid and extensive communications, leading to the development of, what the Coolgardie Miner called, the “cycling telegraph”. The bicycle was eventually used on a scale unequalled anywhere else in rural Australia. A cyclist could cover 100 miles (161km) in a day. Emerging out of the gold rushes of Western Australia was a group of bicyclists known as “the overlanders”. The harsh conditions of the goldfields had made them tough, resourceful and fearless. They knew how to survive.
Arthur Charles Jeston Richardson, a mining engineer, had spent seven years prospecting around Coolgardie. Born in Brazil, his family had moved to Port Augusta, South Australia, when he was young. On 24th November 1896, he set out from Coolgardie to cross the Nullarbor to Adelaide, an alien landscape that explorer John Eyre had described as “a hideous anomaly, a blot on the face of nature, the sort of place one gets into in bad dreams”. This was the longest bicycle trip since Percy Armstrong, three years earlier, had cycled from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Melbourne. Carrying only a small repair kit and water bag, Richardson slogged through sandhills, baked in extreme temperatures, travelled more than 350km without seeing another human being and had been blinded by sandstorms. His least favourite part was the 39km of sand-hills west of Madura station. This was the worst he would experience in Australia. He arrived in Adelaide on Christmas Day.
Arthur Richardson
But Richardson was inspired. In June 1899, he set out from Perth to be the first to circumnavigate the continent by bicycle. He described his story in a book titled “Story of a Remarkable Ride” (1900). He headed north, carrying 25 pounds of gear and a pistol. Heavy rain slowed his progress in Western Australia. And later in the north, where the black-soil plains were unrideable for several days, he had to push and carry his bicycle through sand and silt, encountering hostile natives along the way. He arrived back in Perth on 4th February 1900 after travelling 18,507km.
Kalgoorlie Miner Mon 21 Dec 1896
In March 1900, Richardson left Fremantle with the WA bushman’s contingent, bound for the Boer War in South Africa. He was badly wounded in WW1 and spent 2 years in hospital in Rouen, France. His war injuries had reportedly left him seriously disturbed; he was found lying next to his wife in an apparent murder-suicide in Scarborough, England, in 1939. He had shot his wife and then himself.
Bert (1872-1950) and Fred James (1868-1945) were born into a wealthy Melbourne family (who seem to have been Bendigo mine owners) and were well-known members of the Melbourne Rowing Club. In 1896, whether for wanderlust or lust for gold, they headed west to try their luck in the Murchison goldfields. After 12 months of hardship, they decided to return home by bicycle. They departed Mt Magnet on the 25th March 1897 with a puncture repair kit, a billy and — presumably each — a spare pair of undies and two pairs of socks. Their route took them through Lawler’s, Menzies, Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie, the camel track being well-adapted for bicycle riding and allowing 145km in one day, and then to Norseman and Eucla. A considerable amount of walking was required, 50km one day, between Eucla and Port Augusta. Tracking through Beachport and Mt Gambier, Bert and Fred rode into Geelong on the 2nd October, forty-seven days and 4093km after commencing their ride, to be met by their brothers, one a well-known Geelong Football Club player. They had averaged 105km a day. They were cheered as they rode through Melbourne. According to the Dunlop publicist, they had managed the journey without a single puncture but, in Victoria, had broken one spoke.
Both Bert and Fred went to the Boer War with the Victorian Bushmen. Upon returning home to St Kilda, they discovered a world being transformed by motor vehicles. Motorcycles were little more than bicycles with a small motor. Bert was one of 15 motorcyclist who took up the challenge of Dunlop’s 1905 Reliability Trial from Sydney to Melbourne. A wealthy Sydney motorcycle importer, A.E. Kemsley, offered a cup to the winner of “any motorcyclists rash enough to attempt the journey on their motorised bone shakers”. Bert won. A second Dunlop reliability Trial in 1905, which began in Melbourne, was won by Fred James.
Corporal Albert James in 1900
Bert James
As a mechanical engineer, Albert enlisted in the AIF in 1914 with the rank of Lieutenant. He served in supply and transport, being promoted to Major while in the field in France.
Albert and Gwyladys James 1914
References
Fitzpatrick, Jim (1980) The Bicycle and the Bush. Oxford University Press.
Harris, Bret (2017) Uneasy Rider. The Weekend Australian Magazine, May 20-21.
Whitaker, Peter (2018) The James Boys. Australian Motorcycle News, Vol 67 No 19, 29 March-11 April.
Fed News. Federation of Veteran, Vintage & Classic Vehicle Clubs. Edition No. 76. October – November 2011.
The first man to cycle across the Nullarbor. Anon. Thedandenongranges.com. February 5 2018.
The Australasian, Sat 11 Sep 1897 Page 24. AQUATICS.
Geelong Advertiser, Mon 4 Oct 1897 Page 3. A LONG CYCLING JOURNEY.
Leader, Sat 9 Oct 1897 Page 18. CYCLING.
Moya Sharp
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Moya
Geoffrey Owen and I republished Arthur Richardson’s “Remarkable Ride” several years ago, having gathered newspaper clippings from TROVE to embellish and ratify his reports to the Western Mail. We maintained a website of much of the material gathered, but in the absence of interest, it lapsed not long after selling the last of the booklets.
Some of the material included family records kept by my sister, with which I am happy to share copies.
We would be interested in any historical information on Dr A (Arthur’s father) and his brothers’ bicycle shop (Augustus and Francis)
Your blog was most entertaining, thanks.
Hugh
Hi Hugh I would love to see any photo you may like to share and I will see what can be found on Arthurs father shop. So glad you find the stories of interest.
My great great uncle, William Snell should also be included in this group of Overlanders – he was the second person to cycle across the Nullarbor, after Arthur Richardson. He set off from Menzies in May 1897, “leisurely looking for pastoral land” and took just 26 days to reach Adelaide before heading to Hamilton where he promptly married his childhood sweetheart. He continued to Melbourne where he put her on a boat bound for Fremantle and then cycled all the way back to Menzies. Apparently he was waiting for his wife when she arrived in Fremantle! Snell was the first mayor of Leonora. There is a book about his pioneering life, “The Glassy Goanna” by Mary Bremner.