The Genesis of a Ride

There’s a fellow who lives in Maiden Gully – let’s call him Greg, because that’s his name – who often walks around his neighbourhood, passing a mysterious old grave site. He wondered about it, until one day he went past and found a group of people gathered there. Being a curious fellow he went and asked the people who they were and why they were gathered around this grave. The story he was told planted a seed, the seed grew to an idea, the idea grew to a plan, and here we are, about to set out on a ride from Burra in South Australia, to Bendigo in Victoria.

Once a year the Cornish Association of Victoria gather at this gravesite and in doing so, honour a pioneering Cornish mining family who braved the difficulties of migrating from the copper mines of Burra in South Australia, to the goldfields of Central Victoria. Sadly for some members of this family, their journey ended right there in Maiden Gully.

Greg heard the story of Maria Ninnes, her husband Thomas, and their beleaguered family and wondered, would it be possible to trace the steps of this family, on bicycles?

He floated the idea with cycling friends from the Friends of the Bendigo-Kilmore Rail Trail, and found people keen to join his adventure. With the scanty information availble from the Thomas Ninnes diaries, Rob charted a rough plan of the journey, Tim filled out the details and, together with John, and later Greg, reconnoitred the entire journey, mapping it with great detail. Pat scoured the internet looking for accommodation. Phill planned out catering for the whole trip. The rest of us – which consisted of just Neil and me – cheered from the sidelines and showed up when required.

And so it is that on Friday April 17th, 2026 Tim, Pat, Greg, John, Phill, Neil and Margie will set out, travelling to Burra in much more comfort than the Cornish miners, and then cycling back along the best guess of the route the Ninnes family took in 1852.

In my entries for this trip I’ll be including extracts from the transcription of Thomas Ninnes’ diary, which was located in the South Australian State Library some years back, and transcribed by a member of the Cornish Association of Victoria.

A few weeks before our departure date, Greg (from Bendigo) decided to give Macca (Ian MacNamara, ABC, Australia All Over program) a call, thinking he might be interested in our ride. Listen below to see how that turned out!

Below is a map of the rough route we plan to take.

Macca

Listen to Greg calling Macca, who was definitely not interested in our upcoming adventure!