The island continent of Australia and the bicycle seem almost to have been made for one another. From 1893 the machine was adopted over the next two decades for more varied uses, and was routinely ridden over greater distances as part of daily rural life, than anywhere else on earth.

Explorers, gold-miners, trail-blazers, preachers, sheep-shearers and early film-makers covered amazing distances in the most challenging conditions, mounted on two wheels and powered only by human energy.