Thursday, August 28th ....

I had an early start with the Community Car this morning and listening to the radio in those early hours often throws up little gems which you don't hear about otherwise.  This morning I caught part of an interview with a fellow called Jim Fitzpatrick who has written a history of the bicycle in Australia. After listening to some of his tales, I might be tempted to read the book although I don't list cycling as one of the passions of my life.

The cycling craze caught on in Australia in the 1890’s.  We know that must be right because Banjo Paterson wrote Mulga Bill's Bicycle in 1896. 

    'Twas Mulga Bill from Eaglehawk who caught the cycling craze.

I didn't know that bicycles were used in the Boer War (great for running down the Boer sharpshooters on the veldt) or that both Australia and New Zealand had Bicycle battalions in World War 1.  There is the famous story of how the Japanese invaded Singapore on bicycles in World War 2 and the legend that the noise of the thousands of bicycles crossing the causeway sounded like tanks so the Allied generals rushed to surrender.

There'a also the story of the family of shearers who used to get the ferry across from Tasmania each year and cycle up to Queensland for the shearing season

There's certainly a resurgence of bike riding in Australia and I'm astounded at the number of members of our Rotary club who ride regularly.  One group of 6 men and their wives recently had a trip to Europe.  They hired a canal boat, with a captain, and sailed from one town to next.  Each morning, they unloaded their bicycles and travelled around seeing the sights.  They said it was the best holiday they ever had, and it would never have occurred to me to attempt such a thing.