BnC Community Bicycle Workshop II

dr-bentley

We rolled into Mutitjulu early saturday morning with a ute tray full of BMXs.. but being a long weekend, most of the Community had headed to Alice Springs for the Agricultural Show. I didn’t think there would be a kid left in town and was more than a little sceptical about the attendance prospects of our second Bottles and Chains Community Bicycle Workshop. I need not have worried as within minutes of our arrival about twenty kids rocked up, ready to help re-assemble and repair any bicycles at hand.

workshop

The last workshop had revealed that there was a distinct lack of little kids bikes in the Community, so we’d been on the lookout for small bikes. Mish and I picked up two 16″ and one 20″ BMXs from the Alice Recycling Centre ($15 the lot) and Phil and Yvonne from Penny Farthing Cycles donated a second-hand 14″ tricycle and a ‘slightly’ used 16″ BMX.

spanner

Targetting little kids bikes proved to be spot-on.. the majority of kids in Mutitjulu this weekend were between four and ten years of age.. so as you can imagine the small bikes were snapped up in quick succession! Very quick sucession!! Haha!!!! It was great to see the younger kids involved and I was blown away when I asked a four year old girl for a 15mm wrench and a phillips head screw driver and moments later she reappeared with both! She then used the spanner to remove the front wheel for me!! Haha, awesome!!!

workshop-2

The smaller number of attendees worked well too, as this time we were able to take the kids for a ride on the local BMX track before the ENTIRE pack of kids headed off for a ride around Uluru. It was a great sight to see.. a heap of little BMX’ers with a cloud of dust cloud and dogs following behind!

bmx-track-mutitjulu

We’ll be doing a third workshop in the coming weeks as the NT Police have donated fourteen mountain bikes to the Rec Centre and we’ll be flat stick getting those rolling. Also we may be taking the workshop on the road to Kaltukatjara and Imanpa Communities with the aid of Mission Australia. Keep you posted!

Author: Ben

Bicycle Hobo

3 thoughts on “BnC Community Bicycle Workshop II”

  1. Once again Ben. this stuff you are doing is bloody fantastic. Love your work, feel very inspired by it. You do realise that the health and social benefits of this game you are playing are huge?? There a shit load of evidence out there pointing towards this kinda empowering activity on a community level as the shit that helps people love life!

    The photo of young lass on the bike is lovely

  2. oh that is so cool. Have you been reading the articles on that town in the last week?

  3. Muck raking, sensationalized journalism. There is alot of good things happening in Mutitjulu. People are painting for their gallery, kids are going the Junior Rangers program, music is being played, the old people are teaching the young, the Shire Council is helping look after the town and there is no alcohol or petrol sniffing. Why don’t journalists ever report on the good stuff?

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