Pelotome –
around Australia on a bicycle.
“It seemed as though some of the country people had never seen a bicycle before, so great was the astonishment of the natives of Wombat when we rode through.”
~ Round About the World on Bicycles – G.W. Burston & H.R. Stokes (1890).
My Life and Times
by Jerome K. Jerome
From £4,75
November 1888 – Published 1890.
Round About The World on Bicycles.
“The pleasure tour of G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes, Melbourne Bicycle Club, Australia,” follows George Burston and Harry Stokes on their 56-inch high-wheel bicycle journey around the world, setting off from Melbourne, on 1st November 1888, arriving back in Australia on the 14th December 1889.
With racist observations throughout, the Australian section of their journey was chronicled in The Australasian. on 22nd December, 1888, and 16th February, 1889, and followed their route from Melbourne to Sydney, passing through Kilmore, Tallarook, Seymour, Monea, Violet Town, Glenrowan “in the famous ‘Kelly’ country”, and Wangaratta, before passing into New South Wales and Little Billabong, Adelong Crossing (Tumblong), Gundagai, Cootamundra, Harden, Wombat, Carcoar, Bathurst, Oberon, Jenolan and its caves, Hartley, Mount Victoria, Blackheath and Govetts Leap lookout, Explorers Tree, Katoomba, Springwood, Penrith, and arriving at Sydney on 17th November, 1888, after covering 700 miles.
Leaving for Brisbane on train, they were met at Newcastle station by fellow cyclists, taken up Shepherd’s Hill and “spent an afternoon boating on Hunter River”, before taking the night train to Brisbane where they a mail steamer carried them to Tanjung Priok, Indonesia, on the 27th November, 1888, stopping at Thursday Island en route.
- by G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes.
- Published by George Robertson and Company, Melbourne, Australia “for private circulation only”
RIDING THROUGH BUSH FIRES.
“Nearing Oberon the district is even more mountainous, some of the spurs being miles long, but the views are excellent, and amply repay the muscular exertion.
Hares, wallabies, and kangaroos are seen in great numbers, and we potted them, as we rode along, with our revolvers.”
~ G.W. Burston & H.R. Stokes – Round About The World on Bicycles, 1890.