Turnbulls’ relationship inspires love bike

The story behind the rainbow-crocheted bike left outside of Malcolm Turnbull’s home, now housed in the National Museum.

PM Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy, left, and Sydney-based “yarn bomber” Eloise Murphy, with the Love Wheels bicycle she crocheted, at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith.

When Sydney “yarn bomber” Eloise Murphy locked her rainbow-crocheted bike outside Malcolm Turnbull’s Point Piper home during the gay marriage debate, she figured she would never see her creation again.

But the bike, which the Prime Minister has described as an “amazing work of art”, was on Thursday unveiled at the National Museum of Australia after the Turnbulls hunted down Ms Murphy via social media and decided to gift it to the Australian public.

The Love Wheels bicycle at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith.

Ms Murphy is a well know yarn bomber in her local inner-west neighbourhood of Newtown and said the bike — called Love Wheels — was not a protest but a statement to sum up the gay marriage debate.

It features photos of an affectionate Mr Turnbull with wife Lucy and quotes of the Prime Minister celebrating their nearly four decades of marriage.

“I always felt you could see from afar they have quite an extraordinary relationship,” Ms Murphy told The Australian.

“He said marrying her was the best decision he made bar none, he thinks he was the luckiest guy. He can’t remember a time now where he doesn’t conceive of himself and her as one, rather than him on his own.

“It was about trying to make a simple statement about saying how lovely it would be if everyone could feel the way Malcolm did all those years ago by being able to marry the person they love and really nothing more needed to be said.”

When Ms Murphy drove past the Turnbulls’ home a week after locking up the bike on October 2, it was gone. Her heart sank, believing it had been impounded or someone had removed it thinking it was inappropriate.

“I thought it had ended up in landfill,” Ms Murphy said. “I don’t think they’ve ever had yarn bombing there.

“I did get a bit concerned when friends in the know starting sending me texts saying ‘how’s ‘bombing’ the PM’s house going?’ I had to say to them ‘can you stop sending me texts because I think the AFP are onto me and they’re going to lock me up and throw away the key’.”

She would not learn until after gay marriage was legalised in December that Mr and Mrs Turnbull had taken the bike inside under their porch, worried it would be damaged by bad weather or the local dog population.

“We were absolutely entranced by it, we fell in love with your bike,” Mr Turnbull, who personally flew with the bike to Canberra, said on Thursday.

“It was created in love, it is about love, and I think for many of us it will always be an enduring symbol of that extraordinary day when marriage equality was achieved.”

Love Wheels will be on display in the main hall at the NMA until Monday and then form part of a wider collection reflecting all sides of the gay marriage debate.

PM Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy receive a gift from Sydney-based “yarn bomber” Eloise Murphy. Picture: Kym Smith.