Sarah Maddock Sydney to Melbourne Commemorative Cycling Tour

Our 16-day cycling tour is a modern day version of Sarah’s route taking in some new towns and the High Country, Murray to Mountains and Great Victorian rail trails.

Each year we cycle from Sydney to Melbourne and celebrate the achievements of Sarah Maddock, a trailblazer in Australian cycling and who in 1894 became the first woman to cycle from Sydney to Melbourne.

In 2003 an unrelated Sarah Maddock googled her name and came across her namesake.

“… Google was just a new thing … so, I put my name in. And the first thing that came up was a listing for another Sarah Maddock who I discovered was a cyclist. And she happened to be the first woman to cycle from Sydney to Melbourne in 1894. … I was just inspired by this woman and her achievement. And given the circumstances at the time, like the outfits … the bikes would have been very basic at the time too. I had so much admiration for the achievement … that I decided I wanted to undertake this too.” Sarah Maddock talking on The Bicycle Show. In 2019 Sarah contacted us with a request to design and run a fully supported bicycle tour from Sydney to Melbourne to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Sarah’s ride. In August 2019 Sarah and 8 others left Narellan on the inaugural Sarah Maddock Sydney to Melbourne Commemorative Cycling Tour.

Sarah and Ernest Maddock’s bicycle ride from Sydney to Melbourne in 1894 took place at a time when Australia’s 6 self-governing colonies were reaching a consensus to federate to form the Commonwealth of Australia. It was a time of confidence and increasing wealth with the urban population beginning to have more disposable income and more time to engage in leisure activities such as cycling.

Sarah and Ernest left Sydney on the convict built Great Southern Road that, from a 1902 account, was a very poor track at its very best. Over the last 120 years the road has undergone numerous changes to its alignment eventually morphing into today’s Hume Highway - a 110kph four-lane divided carriageway. Much of the highway now covers Sarah and Ernest’s route so our bicycle ride to Melbourne is going to be a little different, as riding the Hume Highway would be more gruelling than enjoyable.

Instead, as much as possible, our cycling tour from Sydney to Melbourne uses separated off-road cycleways, shared paths and quiet back roads to visit some new villages and towns including Bundanoon, Binalong, Cootamundra, Junee, Wagga Wagga, Yackandandah, Beechworth, Mansfield, Yea and Flowerdale.

In Victoria we will use three rail trails - the High Country Rail Trail, the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail and the Great Victorian Rail Trail. The last two will give a sense of what the scenery and ambience would have been like for Sarah and Ernest all those years ago.

Our virtual travelling companions on our journey south will be explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell who in 1824 explored the land between Gunning and Port Phillip (where Melbourne is today), with their expedition revealing the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers and an abundance of well watered land suitable for cropping and grazing. Their discoveries began the colonies’ transformation from convict settlement to the wealthy and liberal society in which Sarah and Ernest started their journey 70 years later.

Hume and Hovell’s route and ours will cross paths on many occasions. This is a bicycle tour through our colonial history, the gold rushes, immigration, bushrangers, the establishment of agriculture and the expansion and contraction of the railways.

While our cycling route may be slightly different to Sarah and Ernest’s, the essence of celebrating the adventurous spirit of Sarah is at the heart of the ride by allowing you to take your own modern day adventure!

You’ll be struck by The Mulga Difference. All of our bike tours are achievable by the average cyclist with a focus on the journey, not on the clock.