The Overlanders - Across Australia by Harley-Davidson Sidecar in 1926

1926/27 OVERLANDERS TOUR BY HARLEY-DAVIDSON SIDECAR

The story of this epic trip on unmade roads in 1926/27 is a key piece of WA motorcycling history which needed to be told and preserved. Murray Barnard has spent over hundreds of hours researching the original Tour and working from original handwritten diaries to authentically capture the details of this story in a 300 page A4 book. The book is enhanced with many original black and white and colourised photos of the 16 riders and eight sidecar outfits from the Western Australian Harley-Davidson Club which took on the challenge of a crossing from Perth to Sydney in 1926 on mostly unmade roads and camel pads.

As well as documenting the run across the continent in 1926, the book documents the achievement a year later when Overlanders Norm Cunningham and Ted Cracknell, did a Record Run across the same ground, riding 24 hours a day, in an attempt to reduce the official time to cross Australia. 

Then in 1990 a Re-enactment of the Overland Tour was conducted by members of the Vintage Motorcycle Club of Western Australia. This run is documented as well along with colour photos from the event. 

The final product of Murray's research (covering the original Tour, the Record Run and the 1990 Re-enactment) is a 300 page A4 book which captures a significant moment in Australia’s motorcycling heritage. This book can be downloaded in PDF format. Printing is restricted due to copyright considerations. Reduced to US$8.95 (approx. AU$12.45)