Bicycles banned from Adelaide footpaths in 1874 as the popularity of cycling, with clubs formed, sweeps the city
Members of the South Australia Bicycle Club with their penny farthing cycles, about 1875. They are wearing the club uniform with helmets. One member has a bugle on a shoulder belt.
Image by S. Solomon courtesy State Library of South Australia
Bicycles were so popular in Adelaide by 1874 that they were banned from footpaths. South Australia first experienced North American and European velocipedes or “boneshakers”, with two wooden wheels, iron frames, and pedals on the front wheel, in the 1860s.
After the penny farthings, the first safety bicycle – smaller wheels and pneumatic tyres – arrived in the 1880s. Penny-farthing riders formed racing and recreational clubs, with members wearing military-like uniforms. By 1888, Adelaide had four clubs, including the South Australia Bicycle Club and the Norwood Cycling Club.
The cycling craze grew in the 1890s with a big group of clubs affiliated with South Australia League of Wheelmen, including Adelaide, Arid, Gawler, Norwood, Great Northern, Mount Gambier, Naracoorte, North Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Railway, Holdfast Bay, Northern Areas, Red Bird, Jamestown, South Australia, Mannum, Parkside, Southern Districts, Melrose and West Torrens.
The League of Wheelmen’s magazine, the SA Cyclist, started in 1896, described social cycling events such as the Monster Cycle Parade to Henley Beach in May 1897 involved 11 clubs and visitors. Cyclists left in club order from North Terrace, Adelaide, at 2.45. Sports at the beach included tug of war. Tea at 5pm was a shilling a head. A hall was booked for an evening of music.
North Adelaide club’s annual strawberry picnic involved a run from North Adelaide via Norwood to Glen Osmond and then to Smiths Garden. A paper chase in 1897 took in Gilberton, Medindie, Botanic Park, Norwood and Marryatville. The pack “scampered” by back lanes, alleys, over fences, and across paddocks but the “foxes” weren't caught. The competitors then rode to Waterfall Gully “to meet the slow contingent accompanying the ladies” before cycling back to North Adelaide.
