The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire PREVIEW - 1906 Spencer

The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ opens at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) on 28 November, 2020, and runs through to 26 April, 2021.

Presenting the motorcycle as a design object, the exhibition will feature over 100 machines that document more than a century of motorcycle history - from the 1870s to the present day.

While not the oldest motorcycle in the exhibition, the Spencer from 1906 is perhaps one of the most significant, at least from an Australian perspective, as it was one of the first bikes to be almost entirely manufactured in this country. While many veteran-era Australian motorcycles matched imported engines to locally-manufactured frames and cycle parts, almost everything on the bike released by David Spencer in 1906 was designed and built in-house.

One of ten built and thought to be the only compete example, the Spencer on show is also a very “local” bike, as it was built in the Brisbane suburb of Auchenflower, only minutes away from the exhibition space at GOMA.

The original timber castings for the engine will also be displayed with the bike.

The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire opens on 28 November, 2020 and runs to 26 April, 2021. To purchase tickets, go to: qagoma.qtix.com.au

For more information, exhibition updates and details on GOMA’s COVID-SAFE plan, go to: qagoma.qtix.com.au

Source: The Australian Motorlife Museum, Wollongong – Paul Butler Collection

Photos: Penelope Clay