Arthur Charles Jeston Richardson

Richardson was born on 23 February 1872 at Pernambuco (Recife), Brazil, one of ten children. The family moved to Port Augusta, South Australia, while Arthur was very young. He attended Whinham College and Adelaide Collegiate School. After becoming a mining engineer, Richardson traveled the Australian gold fields looking for new strikes.^[1]

Richardson decided to become the first cyclist to cross the stiflingly hot Nullarbor Plain. On 24 November 1896, Richardson left Coolgardie for Adelaide by bicycle. Carrying only a small kit and a water-bag, he followed the telegraph line, as he crossed the Nullarbor. He later described the heat as "1,000 degrees in the shade". He successfully completed the journey, arriving in Adelaide thirty-one days later. As the first man to pedal the Nullarbor, Richardson's ride was widely reported in Australian newspapers and periodicals of the day.

In 1899 Richardson set out to be the first to ride round the Australian continent. He left Perth on 5 June 1899, heading north, carrying 25 pounds (11 kg) of gear and a pistol. Heavy rain slowed his progress in Western Australia, and later in the north, where the black-soil plains were unrideable for several days. He had to push and carry his bicycle through sand and silt, encountering hostile native inhabitants along the way. He arrived back in Perth on 4 February 1900 after travelling 11,500 miles (18,507 km). Richardson's ride was something of a race, as he beat out three other competing Australians – Alex and Frank White, and Donald Mackay, who were simultaneously attempting to circumnavigate the continent in a counter-clockwise direction from Brisbane.^[1]