RE-CYCLED: Bikes refurbished in Queenscliff delighting NT students

QUEENSCLIFF Men’s Shed volunteers are helping disadvantaged children across Australia and the world get on their bikes through a philanthropic bike donation scheme.

A Northern Territory primary school in the remote community of Yarralin was the latest recipient of the two-wheeler repair program, which sent dozens of bicycles cross-country to provide new gear for school students.

Men’s Shed co-ordinator Bill Hall said a teacher at the school had reached out to the Queenscliff group about a donation, which has now reached Yarralin and transformed the education of Indigenous schoolchildren enrolled at the school.

“(The teacher) thought bikes might work, and what it’s done is it’s brought kids back to school and they have a purpose,” Mr Hall said.

“You can use them recess and lunch, and after school, then leave them in a safe place until the next day.”

The Queenscliff Men’s Shed has a longstanding relationship with Melbourne charity Bicycles for Humanity, which sends repaired bikes to Namibia in a similar, international program.

Previous donations have also sent repaired bikes to victims of natural disaster in Australia, such as victims of Gippsland bushfires in the summer of 2020.

“There were kids that had lost their home, lost his school, lost everything, and there he was with a smile on his face when he got his bike,” Mr Hall said.

“They’re the moments where you think ‘this is all worthwhile’.”

The Men’s Shed collects donations of old or damaged bikes from community members, and spruces them up with a wash, fixing any mechanical problems and a lick of paint.

Volunteers then quality test the finished product, testing its steering, brakes and gears before the bikes are either donated or sold to fund Men’s Shed activities.

Members come from a range of different backgrounds – including former bootmakers, sound engineers, Navy chefs and dairy farmers – but there’s never a complaint about the quality of workmanship.

“They’re happy as Larry; we haven’t heard one complaint about our bikes,” Mr Hall said.

The Men’s Shed hosts repair workshops on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at Queenscliffe Neighbourhood House, where repaired bikes staying in the community go up for sale to raise money for the program.