Big Ride for Palestine Australia: A Photographic Archive
The Big Ride for Palestine began in the United Kingdom in 2015. One of the participants returned to Australia and, inspired by the experience, helped establish the Big Ride for Palestine Australia in 2017. What began as a yearly ride from Magandjin (Brisbane) to Byron Bay has grown into a national event. During the COVID period, the Big Ride for Palestine Australia developed into a national network, and by 2026 rides are being organised in all the Australian capital cities, as well as towns and regional centres across the country.
Over the years, the Big Ride has worked in partnership with a wide range of organisations and has received support from trade unions, NGOs and community organisations. More than $300,000 has been raised through the Big Ride for Palestine Australia for humanitarian aid and solidarity projects.
Organisations both abroad and here in Australia deserve particular mention.
The Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation, based in the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut and led for many years by Olfat Mahmoud, has been an important friend and partner. Olfat has since passed away, but her commitment to Palestinian refugees and to the cause of justice continues to be remembered by the Big Ride community.
The Big Ride has also worked with Maan Development, together with other Palestinian NGOs involved in distributing the humanitarian aid raised by cyclists and supporters in Australia. These organisations have helped ensure that funds raised through the rides reach Palestinian communities in need.
In Australia, Union Aid Abroad APHEDA has been a partner of the Big Ride in recent years, helping connect the Australian cycling community with Palestinian trade unions, civil society organisations and the broader movement for solidarity and humanitarian support.
At the heart of the Big Ride is something simple: a love of cycling and solidarity with the Palestinian people. The bicycle provides a way for people to come together, travel together and make a visible statement of solidarity.
An important friendship has developed with the Gaza Sunbirds, the Palestinian para-cycling team from Gaza. In 2026, the Sunbirds organised the international Great Ride of Return on 29 March 2026, bringing cyclists around the world together in solidarity with Palestinians and the right of return.
The Big Ride for Palestine Magan-djin participated, joining the international event with a ride around the Brisbane River, Maiwa, the Indigenous name for the Brisbane River.
The photographs gathered here document that journey — from the early Australian rides to the development of a national event, and the friendships, partnerships, humanitarian work and solidarity that have grown around it.
The Big Ride for Palestine Australia: Photographic Archive, 2019–2025
This archive documents The Big Ride for Palestine in Australia, with particular attention to Brisbane/Meanjin. It brings together photographs and reports published by Workers BushTelegraph between 2019 and 2025.
The photographs record riders, walkers, supporters, community gatherings, fundraising activities and annual finales. Links beneath each year lead to the original Workers BushTelegraph reports and larger photographic collections.
The principal source for the year is The Big Ride for Palestine 2019 in pictures. The photographs document the Australian ride and its supporters. Some photographs from the year also appeared in later Workers BushTelegraph reports.
Further photographs appear in Big Riders for Palestine climb Kombumerri country. This report contains four embedded images of the riders and the ancient rainforest around Green Mountain.
2020
The 2020 campaign produced one of the strongest photographic collections in the Workers BushTelegraph archive. It includes the launch in South Brisbane, the Point-to-Point challenge, rides around Moreton Bay, the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail and climbs in the Scenic Rim.
Launch at the Trades and Labour Council
The full report, The Big Ride for Palestine—launch at the Trades and Labour Council, contains four photographs.
Point-to-Point and the Al Quds team
See The Big Ride Challenge for the complete sequence.
National and regional activity
Recap on the Big Ride for Palestine contains ten photographs. They include the Big Ride picnic, retired unionists at the TLC building, the Araucarians in the Fassifern, Catholic Worker riders on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail and rides between Wellington Point and Cleveland Point.
Big Riders climb Binna Burra contains approximately twelve images, several credited to Lachlan Hurse.
2021
The 2021 reports form the richest section of the Workers BushTelegraph collection, with more than 70 embedded images documenting training rides, the Tour de Brisbane, interstate participation and the finale at Baladi Coffee Cart in Yeronga.
Training rides and Tour de Brisbane
- Pine Cone Forest ride for Palestine — four photographs, credited collectively to Lachlan Hurse.
- Big Ride training near Koala Bushland Reserve — including Terry, Ian and Lachlan.
- Tour de Brisbane preparation — eleven images.
- Tour de Brisbane training ride — start, midway and finish.
