Evandale Village Fair and National Penny Farthing Championships
The Evandale Village Fair and National Penny Farthing Championships.
The wheels of time turn back 100 years as the peaceful village of Evandale once again plays host to The Evandale Village Fair and National Penny Farthing Championships.
The Evandale Village Fair is held annually and features a full program of Penny Farthing racing including the National Penny Farthing Championship.
Penny farthing enthusiasts converge on Evandale from throughout Australia and overseas to vie for a series of races, held on a triangular circuit in the centre of the village. Market stalls and a variety of entertainments are situated in the streets and parks surrounding the race circuit, creating the ambience of a colonial country fair.
This event was first held in 1983, based on an event held in Tunbridge, Tasmania, in the 1970s. Over the past 25 years, Evandale has attracted penny farthing enthusiasts from all states of Australia and from New Zealand, USA, England, Ireland, Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Singapore and Japan.
The championships are recognised internationally as the largest annual event in the world devoted to racing antique bicycles.
The penny farthing evolved from the Velocipede or Boneshaker in the 1870s, when it was realised that the larger the front wheel, the further the machine would travel with each turn of the pedal.
This was the first bicycle to be mass produced, especially in England and America. There was no large scale producer in Australia and bicycles were made here from imported components.
Penny farthings were the first bicycles to be raced to any great extent in Australia. In Tasmania regular race meetings were held at the Cricket Grounds in Launceston and Hobart, and the states first bike club, the Northern Tasmanian Cycling Club, was formed in 1884. Early Austral Wheel Races in Victoria and Latrobe Wheel Races in Tasmania were raced on penny farthings.
Production phased out in the 1890s, when the safety bicycles with chain drive made the large front wheel unnecessary.
Penny Farthing is acknowledged as a nickname. In their day, they were called bicycles. British enthusiasts now prefer the term Ordinary Bicycle, while the Americans prefer High wheelers.
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