bicycleclubs

Members of the Kangaroo Point Cycling Club 1914

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  The KANGAROO POINT CYCLING CLUB is the oldest cycling club in Qld. It was established on 14 July 1905 at a meeting at the Pineapple Hotel, Kangaroo Point and is still going strong. ..................................................................................... Although officially affiliated in 1905, the club in fact held its first race meeting in 1903 with three road handicaps. In that year P. Burke (the club’s actual founder) was Captain and Fred. Whimp was secretary. In 1904 R. Peters was Captain and Norman Hetherington was Secretary. Even in the first 15 years, or so, the club supported many State and Australian Champions, with the likes of Joe Bell, Syd Gee, and Jack King. Jack won many state and Australian titles and in 1920, was one of the first-ever two cyclists selected to represent Australia at the Olympics (in Antwerp). He was Queensland’s first-ever Olympic representative. Other club members who almost made it to the Olympics were Harry Clayton, who would have been at the 1940 Olympics, were they not canceled, and Alan Hoger who made it into the final cut before Melbourne in 1956. The twenties was a strong time for cycling in Brisbane, apart from numerous dirt tracks and roads on the city’s outskirts, we also had two velodromes, a concrete circuit around the “Gabba” and a board track at the RNA exhibition grounds. This time saw the rise of many of the club’s most prominent members, these included Bill Muir, Shearer Goubareff (who was also a champion weight lifter) and Tom Wallace (a well-known cycling identity in Brisbane for many years, “Tom Wallace Cycles” at Lutwyche still bears his name). Norm. Gailey M.B.E. was not only our Club president for over 50 years but also president of the Queensland Cyclists Association, Australian Cycling Federation, and many Olympic and Commonwealth games committees. It was Norm. Gailey was responsible for bringing the Commonwealth Games to Brisbane in 1982. Source: kangaroopointhistory.com.au/places/community-clubs/kangar...