Victoria Park Racecourse, Sydney

Victoria Park Racecourse was a racecourse in Zetland, an inner-city suburb, south of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was bordered by O’Dea Avenue, South Dowling Street, Epsom Road and Joynton Avenue.

For the park in Camperdown, Sydney, see Victoria Park, Sydney

The site was originally a lagoon and swamp which was drained in the early 1900s to create the racecourse.[1] The racecourse was developed and privately owned by Sir James John Joynton Smith (1858–1943), a hotelier, racecourse and newspaper owner.[2] It was said at the time to be the grandest and finest of the pony horseracing course in Sydney.

In 1908, a clay-and-cinder track, 1.81 kilometres in length, was built around the horseracing course, which was used for speedway racing by both cars and motorcycles until the early 1920s.[3]

In 1909, the first powered flight in Australia took place there in a Wright Model A aeroplane named "The Stella". The pilot was Colin Defries. Although only flying 120 yards (110 m) at 15 feet (4.6 m), it is acknowledged by Australian historians[6] and the Aviation Historical Society of Australia, that the definition of flight established by the Gorell Committee on behalf of the Aero Club of Great Britain gives Colin Defries credit as the first to make an aeroplane flight in Australia. A 20-page booklet entitled The History of Aviation Souvenir Australian Tour by Ambrose Pratt, under direction of J & N Tait (price 6d), was issued at the time. It contains pictures of the pilot and the plane, as well as a seated passenger, with caption "preparing to fly".

During World War II, the site was used for an aircraft factory.[3] In 1945 it reopened as a horse training course.[4]

The racecourse was bought by British businessman Lord Nuffield in 1947, and from 1950 the site was used by Nuffield Australia for a motor vehicle assembly facility.[5] Vehicle production was continued by Nuffield Australia and its successors BMC Australia and Leyland Australia [6] until the factory was closed in 1975.[7]

The site was acquired by the Commonwealth of Australia for a naval stores depot which operated until the mid-1990s. The site is currently undergoing redevelopment into high density housing. A three-storey totalisator building remains on the site, which has been used as a site office by the redevelopers, and will become the Green Square library.[8] The racecourse is also remembered in the name of in Tote Park, a small park on the site.

Collecting winnings, Victoria Park racecourse.

References
  1. Weirick, J.Watering Sydney. Architecture Australia, accessed 13 January 2008.
  2. Smith, Sir James John Joynton (1858 - 1943) Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition. Accessed 13 January 2008.
  3. The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring, 1986, page 517.
  4. Anderson (ed.), Barry (2012). Building Cars in Australia. Halstead Press. p. 20. ISBN 9781920831912.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  5. BMC-Leyland Australia Heritage Group, Building Cars in Australia, 2012, page 21
  6. BMC-Leyland Australia Heritage Group, Building Cars in Australia, 2012, page 176
  7. BMC-Leyland Australia Heritage Group, Building Cars in Australia, 2012, page 166
  8. Peake, W. Unregistered Proprietary Horseracing in Sydney, 1888-1942 Archived 2007-09-05 at the Wayback Machine University of Western Sydney, December 2004.
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