Reading photographic portraits of Australian women cyclists in the 1890s: from costume and cycle choices to constructions of feminine identity

During the 1890s, in Australia and around the world, there was a convergence of the cycle, the camera and women. With the advent of the revolutionary safety bicycle, cycling had become a craze. At the same time, photographic technology had undergone changes that meant photographs were cheaper and more accessible. Women became avid consumers of both these new technologies; they became cyclists in unprecedented numbers for the first time, and they also became the popular subjects, and proud owners, of photographic portraits. These two trends converged, resulting in a proliferation of photographic portraits of women cyclists, many of which were published in newspapers and magazines. These bicycle portraits have now become a rich source for historians. More than just visually interesting artefacts, these photographic depictions of the Australian woman cyclist are important windows into the history of Australian women's cycling in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Bicycle portraits provide significant insights into the study of Australian women cyclists, from historical detail ranging from costume, bicycle and cycling activity choices to more complex understandings of the expression of feminine identity among Australian women cyclists in the 1890s.