Falling in Love with Billie Samuels

Ok, the New South Wales "bicycle" photo collection led me to a spontaneous infatuation: Billie Samuels! Note the Koala Bear on the handlebars. I know, vaguely, that Australia has a long history of long distance bike riders, and lots of bike rides all the way round the continent, some in the early years by men and women. A favorite bike touring/travel book of mine is Cold Beer and Crocodiles: A Bicycle Journey Into Australia, by Roff Smith, who decides to quit his job and get healthy and attempt to ride all the way around Australia. That's nine months and 10,000 miles. The funny thing is that early in the book Smith is humbled a bit when he does his research and learns how many people already did something this impressive. Well, now I'll need to do some homework and find out more about this Billie Samuels.

Short description of Billie's record-setting ride from Sydney to Melbourne on July 4th, 1934.