Waitress attempts Sydney-Melbourne Cycling Record

Despite only having learned to ride a bike months earlier, waitress Billie Samuel became the first woman to cycle from Melbourne to Sydney in May 1934.

Poor weather hampered her attempt to better Elsa Barbour’s time riding in the opposite direction, but she tried again on her return journey.

Pictured here with her koala mascot, Samuel left Martin Place at 10am on Wednesday, July 4. With mostly favorable conditions, bar a stretch of ankle-deep mud she had to carry her bike through, Samuel reached Melbourne in three days, one hour and 20 minutes, besting Barbour by little over six hours.

Her record was emphatically broken in September 1937, when Joyce Barry completed the ride almost a whole day faster.