Australia's only professional penny

Dan Bolwell has handmade more than 400 penny-farthings, shipping them to customers around the world. ( ABC News: Gabriela Rahardja )

Link copied Share Share article Casually riding a penny-farthing around town is always going to be an attention-grabber.

"There was a customer in Sydney who lived alone and he kept to himself a lot and he liked that," says penny-farthing maker Dan Bolwell.

But each morning, the man would head off for a spin, with people starting to notice this gent perched atop his late 1800s-style bicycle.

"They got to know him and his daily ride each morning was a short little ride that felt so social and so interactive and it meant the world for him," says Bolwell, who creates the high-wheel bicycles in his Bacchus Marsh workshop, north-west of Melbourne.