Sarah Maddock
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Mrs Sarah Maddock - Endurance Cyclist
Mrs Sarah Maddock (1860-1955) was an Australian endurance cyclist during the 1890s and early 1900s and the first woman to ride a bicycle from Sydney to Melbourne and later Sydney to Brisbane and back.
Early life
Born Sarah Porter on 29 October 1860 near Wolumla, Eden NSW, to James and Mary Porter, Sarah Maddock grew up on her parent’s dairy farm and became a competent horsewoman. A childhood accident left her blind in one eye. She married her husband Ernest Alfred Maddock on 22 February 1886 at St James' Church in Sydney [1] and by 1890 had a son and three daughters, of whom two survived. As was custom at the time she was also known as Mrs E.A. Maddock, after her husband.
Cycling Career
Maddock learned to ride a bicycle in 1893. In 1894 she was the first woman to ride from Sydney to Melbourne, a distance of 924 kms by the route she took. [2] Accompanied by her husband and monitored by local cycling clubs along the route, the trip took nine days and she was escorted into Melbourne by members of the Melbourne Bicycle Club.[3]
Sarah Maddock completed a 1575km round trip to Brisbane from Sydney in 1895 riding an imported New Rapid bicycle which she collected the day before embarking on the ride.[4] Again accompanied by her husband, the pair encountered poor roads, bushfires, tropical downpours and fjorded creeks to complete the journey. On returning to Sydney she was presented with a gold medal by the Sydney Bicycle Club. [5]
In February 1895 she became the captain of the newly formed Sydney Ladies'Bicycle Club.[6]
In 1897 she formed a second women's club in Sydney, the Stanmore Lady Wheelers, of which she became Captain.[7]
Rational Dress
Unlike some other female endurance riders of the time Sarah Maddock rejected ‘rational dress’ for cycling. She claimed that the most suitable cycling costume for a woman was a skirt, worn with 'black satin under knickerbockers', which allowed it to 'fall gracefully into place after each stroke of the knee'. While recognising the 'extreme folly and danger of riding tightly dressed about the waist', she advised that 'stays should by no means be discarded'.
There are however conflicting reports about her dress with some accounts claiming she sometimes wore rational dress in remote areas and carried a skirt to wear in more populous areas. [8] She was at pains to refute this.[9]
Bicycles she rode
Maddock’s first Sydney to Melbourne ride was undertaken on a 14kg Conqueror safety bicyclee with dropped frame, gearbox and pneumatic tyres. For the ride from Sydney to Brisbane and back she rode an imported New Rapid machine with pneumatic tyres.[10]
Death
In 1955, at 95, Sarah Maddock died at her daughter’s house in Double Bay, NSW Australia. She was cremated with Anglican rites; her son and two daughters survived her.
External Links
Maddock, Sarah (1860–1955), 'Australian Dictionary of Biography', Australian National University
Maddock, Sarah The Dictionary of Sydney
At 90 she played housie-housie The Daily Telegraph, Sydney 22nd October, 1950
A Lady Bicyclist 600 Miles on a 'safety' "The Argus", Melbourne October 1st 1894
- ^ "The Geelong Flier", Queens News & Updates, Queen's College, The University of Melbourne.
- ^ "Mr and Mrs Maddock"Australian Town and Country Journal, Sat 1st December 1894
- ^ "A Lady Cyclist. Feat by Mrs Maddock" The Australian Star 4th October 1894
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108212311? ]
- ^ [3]
- ^ "Cycling"Evening News 19th September 1895
- ^ "A Lady Cyclist. Mrs Maddocks. 1600 miles on a machine" Evening News' Saturday 5th October 1895
- ^ [4]