It isn't quite a Harley Davidson, but for a young revolutionary it may have been the next best thing. The motorbike used by Liam Mellows while organising western volunteers for the 1916 Rising is due to be exhibited at NUI Galway this week.
The exhibition is part of a conference taking place at the university this weekend on local dimensions to 1916. "Before his arrest in July 1915, Mellows used a bicycle on his organising mission in Co Galway," Dr John Cunningham of NUI Galway's (NUIG) history department says.
"On his release and return to the county on November 23rd, 1915, there was an enormous Volunteer rally at Athenry to greet him. Evidently, there was a bit of a collection before the rally," he says, and Mellows was presented with a motorbike.
However, it soon became something of a liability, according to the historian,
C. Desmond Greaves. "Motorcycles were rare in those days and the sound of backfiring across the fields saved the police much trouble," Greaves wrote.
The restored Sun vehicle has been kept at the Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa Army barracks in Galway and has been given on loan to NUIG. The conference programme opens on Friday evening. All sessions are open to the public and admission is free.