Four years before the inaugural Tour de France, four cyclists known
as 'Overlanders' set out on a race around Australia. On 24 November
1896 a wiry and wily bushman named Arthur Richardson left
Coolgardie for Adelaide by bicycle. Carrying only a small kit and a
water-bag, he followed the telegraph line. After much 'sweating and
swearing' on sandy roads west of Eucla, and enduring the scorching
heat, 31 days later he became the first man to pedal across the
Nullarbor. But within three years Richardson had set his sights on
becoming the first person to ride around the vast island continent,
not yet a nation, and some 18,507km. On 5 June, 1899, he left
Perth, heading north, carrying no more than a swag and a pistol. It
took courage, self-confidence, endurance and resourcefulness to
tackle such a ride. Richardson would follow dirt tracks, cattle and
camel pads and stars in the night sky as he battled thirst, hunger,
exhaustion, crocodile attack and spears from Aboriginal warriors to
realize his dream. But he also had competition...another party of
cyclists with the same ambition. New Zealand-born Brothers Frank
and Alex White and wealthy adventurer Donald Mackay from
Wallandbeen Station, NSW, were attempting the ride in a
counter-clockwise direction from Melbourne and Brisbane
respectively. Set against the fledging pastoralist empires of
pre-Federation Australia, Tour de Oz, is the extraordinarily true
story of a remarkable race to 'circumcycle' the Australian
continent - before we became a nation.
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