This has been a long time coming...
Back in 2017 Happy Humber and I photographed the bikes donated at the conclusion of Oppy's trans continental ride. One to the WA Museum by Bruce Small and the second given to Aub Melrose (navigator, mechanic and driver of the crossing support crew), either by Oppy, who remained a lifelong friend of Aub's, or by Small.
WA Museum Bike
Private Collection Bike
HappyHumber and I finally made another visit to the keeper of the Melrose flame today. Melrose was also a keen photographer and after wading through literally hundreds of black and white negatives we struck gold - three processed but uncut rolls of 120 film with images from the Oppy crossing. There is some remarkable material in those rolls, but a few other treasures besides - photos from the 'Tandem Girls' crossing of 1938, as well as short handwritten and typed recollections and a letter from Oppy to Aub Melrose.
All in all a lot to digest.
WAHCC members are currently working on an exhibition about cycle crossings which will run from October 2023 to January 2024 at the
Museum of Perth.
If anyone here has photos or ephemera that could be of interest for the exhibition please let me know. We have a lot of display cases to fill. Loans would be great but we're happy to work with good quality facsimiles of documents and photographs if you can't bear to part with originals.