'Velocipede race at Melbourne Cricket Ground', 1869. The first bicycle race in Australia is believed to have taken place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1869, although some claim velocipedes were ridden in contests in Sydney two years earlier. Engraving published by Ebenezer and David Syme, Melbourne. Courtesy: State Library of Victoria.

French-designed velocipedes were the first human-powered wheeled machines to arrive in Australia. Typically built with two or three wheels shod in iron or wood, these machines had no brakes or gears. It seemed that not even the hard, bumpy work of pedalling these ‘boneshakers’ could dampen Australians’ enthusiasm for cycling.

Members of the Melbourne Bicycle Club with their penny-farthings, 1878. The ‘high-wheeler’, known later as the ‘penny-farthing’, arrived in Melbourne in 1875. They soon confirmed the speed, excitement and potential of the bicycle. Photo: National Library of Australia (an5117501).

High-wheelers featured rubber ‘cushion’ tyres, so were more comfortable than velocipedes, but were still difficult to manage. Riders sat more than two-and-a-half metres off the ground, which was a long way to fall and made the bikes hard to mount. A fit cyclist, however, could sustain speeds of between 16 and 25 kilometres an hour – for the first time, a person moving under their own power could travel as fast as a trotting horse. Among athletic young men, in particular, the high-wheeler was the promise of transport’s exciting future. Penny-farthings were soon rendered obsolete by the arrival of the 'safety' bike.

Harry Clarke riding his penny-farthing, 'Black Bess', in the Melbourne Moomba Parade, 1984. Photo: Rennie Ellis. State Library of Victoria.

Harry Clarke raced bikes for most of his life, first falling in love with the sport while working as an apprentice engineer in Melbourne during the Second World War. In his late 50s, Clarke impulsively bid on this vintage penny-farthing at an antiques auction. Once he learnt to ride it, and after numerous spills, he successfully competed in the National Penny Farthing Championships in Tasmania for many years.

In 1988, Harry Clarke, as president of the Vintage Cycle Club of Victoria, joined with 23 other cycling enthusiasts for a partial re-enactment of the round-the-world journey made by Melbourne penny-farthing riders George Burston and Harry Stokes in 1888.

More on Harry Clarke and his bicycle

English-made Cogent penny-farthing bicycle belonging to Harry Clarke, 1884. Clarke bought this vintage bike at an antiques auction and rode it throughout the 1980s and 1990s. National Museum of Australia. Photo: George Serras.

More on Harry Clarke and his bicycle

Cyclists with their 'safety' bikes in South Australia, about 1900. These bicycles featured a relatively lightweight, durable, diamond-shaped frame, with a single, fixed gear, pneumatic tyres and no brakes (riders slowed by resisting the forward motion of the pedals). Photo: State Library of South Australia (B69054).

The safety bicycle was chain-driven, enabling the rider to sit between the wheels, rather than perch on top of the drive wheel. Being closer to the ground, riders could balance their feet on the road when they stopped. The cost of the new machines fell during the 1890s and sales rose rapidly.

'A shearer moving camp', about 1900. The bicycle was truly democratic, used by people ranging from postmen, doctors, shearers and housewives to upper-crust socialites on a Sunday outing. Photo: State Library of Queensland.