{"id":564915,"date":"2026-03-26T05:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564915\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:00:25","slug":"step-back-in-time-with-these-9-treasures-of-victorian-cycling-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564915\/","title":{"rendered":"Step back in time with these 9 treasures of Victorian cycling history"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a treasure trove of Victorian cycling history.<\/p>\n

The AusCycling History and Heritage Sub-Committee Victoria manages a collection of 5,000 items of cycling information and memorabilia.<\/p>\n

Founded 14 years ago and led by the passionate Ray Bowles, the committee traces the storied history of Victorian track and road cycling through its collection of physical artifacts, most of which have been donated by retired cyclists and families.<\/p>\n

“Assessing a new donation is always exciting as it brings back so many great racing memories,” Bowles said.<\/p>\n

\"Ray<\/p>\n

Ray Bowles poses with items from the archive.<\/p>\n

“By far the largest section is programs.\u00a0 Some potential donors say, ‘I’ve only got some old programs,\u00a0 you wouldn’t want those’ \u2212 not true.\u00a0 Programs are the real history of the sport.\u00a0 They tell us if it was one-off or an ongoing series, format, location, distance, entry size, prizemoney, etc.<\/p>\n

“Another large collection is in the magazine classification, being the Australian Cyclist.\u00a0 There were 336 editions issued between March 1947 and August 1974.\u00a0 Published in Melbourne, this is an invaluable history reference for the period and we have all copies.”<\/p>\n

Bowles lifted the curtain behind nine of his favourite objects from the AusCycling History Archive (VIC), sharing the stories they tell about our sport.<\/p>\n

Hawley Showcase<\/p>\n

This spectacular showcase is 1.6 metres high and reveals the performances of W E Hawley; in particular, first and fastest in the 1905 Warrnambool to Melbourne.\u00a0\u00a0It’s significant because of the bicycle tyre competition of the period; it was, fortunately, salvaged from the same car tyre company who had it on their rubbish pile ready for disposal because they were moving premises.<\/p>\n

\"TheTour de France souvenir handkerchief (1931)<\/p>\n

A wonderful piece of memorabilia associated with Sir Hubert Opperman and the Tour de France.\u00a0 In 1931, Oppy finished 12th in the Tour and riders received this souvenir linen handkerchief.\u00a0 Oppy gifted it to his best friend and training partner George Shepherd, whose son Don then presented it to the archive.\u00a0 The team of four Aussies is clearly visible.<\/p>\n

\"ATrophy (1884)<\/p>\n

This ornately engraved trophy cup is the earliest item in the archive. It was awarded at an 1884 race meeting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the best turned-out club.\u00a0 That involved clubs parading in formation on the ground and then performing intricate group manoeuvres, and was won by the all-powerful Melbourne Bicycle Club.\u00a0 Little is known about the trophy’s 140-year journey from MCG to the archive.<\/p>\n

\"ABuglet (1890)<\/p>\n

It was presented to the Port Melbourne Bicycle Club in 1890, but what was the purpose of a bugle?\u00a0 When the club went for their Sunday ride on their penny-farthings, it was the only means of communication.\u00a0 The ride captain played a particular tune on his bugle and the following riders knew to turn left at the next road.\u00a0 The most popular tune was the one which meant we would be stopping at the ale house on the right.<\/p>\n

\"APair of aluminium bidons (1932)<\/p>\n

A finish photo of Dick Reynolds winning the 1932 Warrnambool to Melbourne clearly shows two aluminium bidons in his handlebar cage.\u00a0 Those bidons have been passed down through the family and donated to the archive.<\/p>\n

\"Two\u00a0MCG racing photos (c 1900)<\/p>\n

It was a fortunate moment when Mick Carmellotti was only allowed to borrow (not keep) an album of photos from an official photographer at the MCG.\u00a0 Carmellotti had all the photos re-photographed and donated some 200 film negatives to the archive, including some of the Austral Wheelraces.<\/p>\n

\"PhotographsMelbourne Bicycle Club race program (1892)<\/p>\n

The MBC Program is from their Autumn Race Meeting of March 1892.\u00a0 The unfathomable number of riders entered into the last race \u2212 60 \u2212 was apparently all-in for any bike.\u00a0 There is one rider with a ‘P’ inscribed beside his name, indicating that he was using pneumatic tyres.<\/p>\n

\"AWooden rims<\/p>\n

Today, people may look back at wooden rims with question. They filled the gap between rolled steel rims, which were too heavy for racing, and the yet-to-be-manufactured aluminium rims.\u00a0 Note the laminated construction used.<\/p>\n

\"WoodenSun Tour Mockridge Cup (1957)<\/p>\n

This is a truly magnificent trophy, worthy of a Sun Tour winner and worthy of the great Russell Mockridge.\u00a0 It has had a complicated history, a true lost-and-found-story: once misplaced, it was discovered in a tip in poor condition, until it was restored and ultimately passed down to be displayed publicly at DISC Velodrome.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The AusCycling History and Heritage Sub-Committee Victoria is looking for help with overseeing this valuable collection. If you’d like to help steward the history of Victorian cycling, please contact Melissa Ward at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photos: Con Chronis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a treasure trove of Victorian cycling history. The AusCycling History and Heritage Sub-Committee Victoria manages a collection…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-564915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}