The odd event is just the first of five strange moments that really did happen on the streets of Bendigo.

This collection of strange feats has been sent in by the Bendigo Regional Archives' Desiree Pettit-Keating during research for unrelated subjects.

All were found in Bendigo Advertiser newspapers, beginning with the Bendigo Easter fair stunt performed 109-years-ago this year.

Crowds gathered over Easter to witness American daredevil Charles Kilpatrick perform death defying stunts using a bicycle.

That included his "perilous" ride down stairs in a performance he was world-famous for.

Kilpatrick was a baseball umpire in his spare time who had lost his leg in a mining accident in the United States.

The stunt may not seem all that impressive to some modern readers, at least compared with modern-day spectacles using bikes, skateboards, motorbikes, monster trucks and fighter jets these days.

But he was doing this and other tricks in the early 20^th century before the likes of Evel Kenievel had explored everything possible with two wheels.

Admit it, whenever you do a bit of gardening you wish there was someone else around you could challenge to a wheelbarrow race.

The race was held at the Eaglehawk Town Hall to raise money for the Eaglehawk Band in 1961.

It is unclear exactly what the rules of the race where, but there is a picture in the Advertiser's archive that implies contestants literally pushed wheelbarrows that a team mate was sitting in.

About 60 Bendigo Technical College students helped convert a hospital bed into a speed machine in an attempt to break a world record.

The students transformed the Bendigo Base Hospital bed into ... well ... a bed frame with wheels for the record attempt in 1966.

The goal appeared to not so much be speed as distance, despite a whimsical Advertiser subeditor asking whether this was indeed the world's fastest bed in a headline. The team wanted to knock over 200 miles to raise money for the hospital.

Four fearless and wildly inexperienced jockeys raced donkeys through central Bendigo one evening in 1975.

Why? No idea.

They were all radio presenters, though, so it was possibly a publicity stunt.

If it was a 3BO FM publicity stunt, it was incredibly successful. About 2500 people lined the streets to watch the race, according to police.

It is unclear whether anyone organised sub-race categories for the biggest ass, the hairiest, the loudest, and so forth, as the article does not mention it.

What is clear is that that man with the fastest ass was Mike O'Loughlin.

The disc jockey's route wound through Mitchell Street, down Hargreaves Street (it was not yet a pedestrian mall), Williamson Street and Pall Mall.

Hard-headed racers pushed beer kegs along in this series of sprints in 1981.

What they did with the kegs afterwards is unclear, though they might have needed a drink.

The contestants pushed the kegs with their heads as they crawled along in their 100 charity appeal dash.

This is the latest story in our regular Bendigo Weekly history series WHAT HAPPENED?

Special thanks to Desiree Pettit-Keating from the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre for sharing the stories she uncovered.