Three photographic postcards of women travelling by motorcycle, 1915-1918

SPG/193

fonds

1915-1918

Graphic Materials, Photographs

1009600

3 photographic postcards (1 folder) - black & white - 8.8 x 13.7 cm

The motorcycle developed from the bicycle in about 1895-1901. It was smaller and cheaper than the smallest available cars but still gave people a taste for the open road with speeds and distances travelled greater than possible by horse or bicycle.
In the 1890s and early 1900s it was considered ‘unseemly’ for women to ride astride and so the sidecar was developed. By 1914, when the Bradbury motorcycle and sidecar were built, they were the height of middle class respectability. The sidecar meant that the family man could transport his wife and children and was the recognised holiday transport for thousands of prosperous working people.
Reference: Library correspondence file

1. Woman in sidecar, Oatley, NSW, 1915. Kodak Austral postcard. Ink manuscript annotation, 'Oatley/ 24.5.l5' and to verso, 'To A.W. from H. G.'
2. Woman and child in sidecar, ca. 1915-ca. 1918. Australian 'Empire’ postcard, ink manuscript inscription to verso, from 'Your aff[ectionate] Bro & Sister/ Walter & Casper.'
3. Picnic with Motorcycle and Sidecar, Celebrating Peace on Armistice Day, 1918. Kodak Austral postcard, ink manuscript inscription to verso: 'taken Nov.11th 1918 / To Miss Sewell/with best wishes/from/ Lin & G. Wilson. / "Coralie" / Ballina/ N.S.W.'

Out of copyright: Created before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales