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postcards from the north

Faith Hunter: words and pictures: on air, in print and online

Writing

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The UN recognises that bicycles provide a means to provide accessible mobility choices to a diverse range of people while also improving outcomes such as health and the environment. #WorldBicycleDay celebrates this and we'd like to celebrate with this photo circa 1900 from South Australia. The transformations the bicycle can bring to people's lives and society started with a fairly privileged section of western society, but despite that privilege, a very unequal space for women. The power of the bicycle to transform lives and the way people live can be seen now all over the world. Here's to more bicycles and safe places to ride them! Photo courtesy of the State Library of South Australia (B69054) about 1900,South Australia #awiderworld #womenscycling #vintagecycles #history #vintagecycles #babesonbikes #ridelikeagirl #babesridebikes #chickfietst #womenscycling #sherides #girlsonbikes #wheelwomen ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #shestoke #bikelife #betteronabike
In 1894 Mrs Sarah Maddock rode from Sydney to Melbourne, accompanied by her husband. The first woman to make the 924km overland journey by bicycle, Mrs Maddock had learned to ride the previous year. She followed it up in 1895 with a 2575km ride from Sydney to Brisbane and back. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #awiderworld #womenscycling #outsideisfree #notbeachroad #bikepacking #vintagecycles #babesonbikes #ridelikeagirl #touringwithasenseofurgency #getoutdoors #outdoorsisfree #outsideisfree #babesridebikes #chickfietst #womenscycling #sherides #girlsonbikes #wheelwomen #strongher⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #nothingisordianry #liveverymoment #shestoke #bikelife #betteronabike #couplegoals #womenaus #inspiringwomen #herstory #throwbackthursday
We're not sure what plans these two ladies had for their weekend but with bicycles and a pair of knickerbockers they were bound to go far. Photographed in Western Victoria where the roads were famous for being well kept and mostly flat, if sometimes a little sandy. Photo by Mr W. E Veale (c.1890-1900) and to be found at @library_vic⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ . #awiderworld #womenscycling #outsideisfree #notbeachroad #vintagecycles #babesonbikes #ridelikeagirl #babesridebikes #chickfietst #womenscycling #sherides #girlsonbikes #wheelwomen #strongher #womenaus #vicwomen #vicwomentrailblazers #inspiringwomen #slv #statelibraryvictoria
Roads like these. Roads varied enormously prior to the introduction of the automobile, and regions with well maintained roads would fast become popular with cyclists during the 1890s. Cyclists generally sought out coach roads and other major routes as they were the most likely to be well maintained and not feature random tree stumps. It did mean they would wear the marks of other roads users, carts and coaches pulled by horse, and could quickly become rutted. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ . #awiderworld #womenscycling #outsideisfree #notbeachroad #bikepacking #vintagecycles #graveleur #ridelikeagirl ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #bikelife #betteronabike #roadslikethese #1890s #slv #statelibraryvictoria #throwbackthursday
We all know the guy. He's just got to move up in front when you're stopped at the lights, only to be dropped like a stone once you get going again. Take a tip from this rationally attired cycliste and ride into Monday like a woman who's got no time to waste! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #awiderworld #womenscycling #vintagecycles #babesonbikes #ridelikeagirl #babesridebikes #chickfietst #womenscycling #sherides #girlsonbikes #wheelwomen #strongher⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #betteronabike #vintagecycles #vintagefashion
Hard to imagine now, with not only a plethora of paper maps but also mapping apps, but comprehensive maps that would guide cyclists around the colony of Victoria were a novelty yet to come in the early 1890s. The few maps already created contained information useful to those travelling by horse drawn vehicles. Most travellers relied on local knowledge and weren't travelling the distances that cyclists could cover in a day. The first comprehensive touring guides produced for cyclists set the standard and went on to become the first maps to be used by those new-fangled motor vehicles yet to appear on Victorian roads. This detail is from The Cyclists and Tourists Road Guide published in Melbourne in 1896 and to be found at the State Library of Victoria. @library_vic No self-respecting cycliste would be caught without it! #awiderworld #roadslikethese #notbeachroad #graveleur #betteronabike #bestiegoals #womenaus #vicwomen #vicwomentrailblazers #inspiringwomen #slv #statelibraryofvictoria

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