With Melbourne in the middle of Spring Racing season, tomorrow thousands of people will be flocking to Flemington Racecourse for a day at the Melbourne Cup. Located on the banks of the Maribyrnong River to the north-west of the CBD, the course has been used for horse racing since 1840 (photo nicked from the VRC website).
However a short distance to the north there was once another racecourse, which has been all but forgotten by Melburnians. Known as “Ascot Racecourse” and located across the road from the Melbourne Showgrounds, photos of the course are hard to come by, but these aerial photographs taken in 1945 for the Victorian Department of Lands and Survey show the two courses clearly: Flemington in Green and Ascot in Red. (the massive full sized image is here)
Named after the famous English racecourse, Melbourne’s namesake was built on a site covering 77 acres between Union Road and Ascot Vale Road, with a track seven furlongs round (1,408 metres) and with separate circuits laid out for flat racing, trotting and steeplechasing. The track was the brainchild of a single person, a Mr. Riley, who had previously operated the Oakleigh Park track on Melbourne’s south eastern outskirts.
The racecourse proposal was not popular with 122 Ascot Vale residents, who presented a petition of signatures to the Essendon Council in September 1893. They argued that because of the large number of existing racecourses in the area (Moonee Valley and Flemington) no more should be allowed to open, and believed that the new racecourse would encourage the attendance of undesirable characters and depreciate the value of property in the immediate vicinity, and the small size of the track would endanger the lives of riders.
Despite the petition the objections of locals appears to have come to nothing, with the first race meeting at Ascot Racecourse being held on Wednesday October 25, 1893 with around 3000 punters in attendance. £300 was distributed in prize money, with £100 and a handsome trophy going to the winner of the principal event: the Ascot Cup. During the early years at Ascot the fortunes for owner Mr. Riley did not turn out well: with Melbourne’s land boom having just turned to bust, the track closed for an unknown period of time, before reopening in September 1899 under new management.
The biggest difference between Ascot and the famous neighbour down the road was the operation of race meetings: instead of being run by a racing club that reinvested their profits in racing and their members facilities, Ascot was a “proprietary racecourse” that was run by the private owner as a profit making business. With race meetings significantly more downmarket than those held by the racing clubs, Melbourne’s collection of proprietary racecourses were popular with the working class in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, until they were closed by the State Government in 1931.
Back at Ascot, another chapter opened in 1906 when notorious entrepreneur John Wren purchased the track. Today known as being the basis of the character “John West” in the 1950 novel Power Without Glory, Wren made his fortune in the late 1890s with his business of totalisator betting system that challenged the traditional ontrack bookmakers, but drew the ire of the state governing body of racing, the Victoria Racing Club, who pressured the State Government into banning the practice in 1906. It was Wren’s purchase of the Ascot Racecourse, along with other proprietary tracks at Richmond and Fitzroy, that enabled him to run his own pony races targeted at working class gamblers, as opposed to the thoroughbreds racing at the elite clubs.
Over the next decade Wren’s enemies continued in their attempts to bring down his racing empire: in July 1915 he offered the his track to the Defence Department to assist the cause of World War I, when a few days later an unnamed deputation called for the Government to cancel the license of the Ascot Racecourse for good. The request was refused by Chief Secretary John Murray, who stated that the abolition of proprietary racecourses was a question to be answered after the war. Seeing the end of his business, Wren sold his Victorian interests in 1920 to the Victorian Racing and Trotting Association, allowing the Ascot Racecourse to remain open when the State Government closed the Sandown Park, Fitzroy, Aspendale and Richmond racecourses in 1931.
It took the intensification of World War II in 1942 to place further restrictions on race meetings throughout Australia. Ascot was not spared, with a short newspaper article in September 1942 advised that the racecourse was “required for other purposes” and not be available for race meetings during the war (code for defence related matters). During this period Flemington, Moonee Valley, and Mentone were the remaining racing venues in the metropolitan area, and by end of the war in 1945 Caulfield Racecourse was allowed to reopen, but for Ascot it was the end of the line as the remaining Victorian racing venues was consolidated.
On August 18, 1945 the State Premier Mr. Dunstan announced that the Government had decided against the resumption of racing at the Ascot Racecourse, with the Victorian Racing and Trotting Association to be relocated to a new venue at Sandown Park, and the land in Ascot Vale turned over for housing development. The Association objected to the move because they held a long term lease from John Wren for the track, and at the same time had to deny accusations of being a proprietary racing club, stating that that their profits went back to racing, along with charity and patriotic groups. The Housing Commission would be the developer, believing the value of the land was reasonable if it was used for flats, but would not be economical if individual houses were built instead.
Due to a breakdown in negotiations with Wren and his partners in regards to the purchase price, the State Government issued a notice of compulsory acquisition in March 1946 under the Slum Reclamation and Housing Act. Wren was unhappy with the Government offer of £117,000 in compensation, valuing the site at £174,000 and so lodging a claim at the County Court on September 17, 1946. The case was settled in October 15 when the State Cabinet agreed to acquire the site for £142,618 – a figure midway between the two competing claims.
Altogether homes for 2,600 people were built on the 77 acre site by the Housing Commission, made up of 400 flats, 100 villa pairs and 50 single villas, along with 5 acres of parkland and a network of streets named after Australian World War II personnel.
The first residents moved in to the estate by Christmas 1947, but with rents to £2/5/ a week (in 1948) they were paying the most of all Housing Commission tenants in Victoria. Today the flats are managed by the successor of the Housing Commission, the Victorian Office of Housing, and remain as public housing in an increasingly gentrified suburb.
As for the other players at Ascot Racecourse…
- John Wren received an additional windfall in June 1947: the City of Essendon had attempted to charge him £5,591 in rates and interest, accrued during the World War II occupation of the racecourse. He took the fight to the High Court, who found 4 to 1 that municipalities could not legally collect rates for properties taken over by the Commonwealth for defence purposes.
- The Victorian Racing and Trotting Association merged with the Victoria Amateur Turf Club and the Williamstown Racing Club in 1963 to form the Melbourne Racing Club, which still operates today. As for their promised new racecourse at Sandown, it didn’t open until June 19, 1965.
Sources
- The Proposed New Racecourse. (1893, September 8). North Melbourne Advertiser (Vic. : 1873 – 1894), p. 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66165450
- Ascot Races. (1893, October 27). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1956), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8705476
- Protest Against Sainfoin. (1893, November 4). Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 – 1907), p. 35. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71191220
- Notes and Chat. (1899, September 25). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1956), p. 7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9031686
- Ascot Racecourse Unavailable. (1942, September 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954), p. 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25888303
- Ascot Racecourse Removal Proposed. (1945, August 4). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 – 1954), p. 7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43505227
- Ascot Course to be Housing Area. (1946, February 19). Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 – 1954), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68963377
- Flats may be built on Ascot Racecourse. (1946, February 21). Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 – 1954), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68963712
- Housing Commission Value For Land Challenged. (1946, September 17). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1954), p. 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2695592
- Melbourne Ascot. (1946, October 16). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954), p. 10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46176932
- Defence Area Rates Claim: Councils’ Cannot Collect. (1947, June 3). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 16. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18028584
- Rents Higher for New Flats. (1948, March 9). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1956), p. 5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22548833
Dear Marcus,
I just wanted to thankyou for putting this very informative document on the net.
My parents lived in the housing commission flats back in the fifties and sixties, and i was born and started my school life in Ascot Vale.
I have been trying to find some history on the Ascot Vale flats since I started my Family history research back in 2001.
The links to the news articles are fantastic, I’ve loved reading the document over and over.
Thanks again Marcus………….Kindest Regards…Tony Bowles.
Hi Tony – glad you’ve found the post useful!
Stay tuned for some more history of the area – I’ve been working on a piece covering the construction of the housing commission estate.
Marcus, Thanks so much for the history. I was born in Flemington, 5 minutes from the old Ascot racecourse, and used to play on the site with other children prior to the commencement of the construction of the commission dwellings. My grandparents and Mother remembered the races there, and the ‘rise’ of John Wren. Also I have photographs of a horse owned by my Great Aunt, which won trotting races at Richmond Racecourse, and of my Great Uncle ‘riding’ a pacer to victory at Richmond in 1918. The date of two of the photos is May 1932, which means that it did close in 1931 as noted. It is so good to see history of our old area, and we have fond memories of that area and its growth over the years to a very desirable area now to reside in, whereas in our time, it was considered lower class. I would love to know if there is a historical society that may like the photos, so that they could form part of the history.
Hi Patricia,
Thanks for sharing your story as well.
If you are interested in sharing your photos with somebody who will take care of them, the Essendon Historical Society are your best bet, as the cover the area – their website is http://www.esshissoc.org.au/.
Hi Marcus,
Great article. Thanks for putting it together.
I moved into the flats in Dunlop Ave as a 5 y.o. in 1974.
I am living in the same flat again, as I took over the lease after
my mum passed away in 2002.
I was aware of some of the history but your article has great details.
A couple of typos:
Melbourne
Hi David,
Glad you found the article useful, and thanks for the free proofreading session – I’ve since made the corrections! 🙂
Marcus, that’s a great snapshot of the history of the Wingate Housing Estate. A link has been put in on the Flemington heritage facebook page. I look forward to more local pieces!
Hi John, I’m glad you found it interesting.
As for the Facebook page, I’ve found an answer to the when was the current Newmarket railway station building built!
https://www.facebook.com/flemingtonheritage
I have a number of postcards relating to the Ascot Vale and Richmond racetracks,all dated between 1929/39. They show the finish of trotting events at those courses with good background and horses names,driver names etc. Can anyone tell me a bit more about them please?
Thanks Marcus, fantastic information. Two bachelor uncles of my father owned a horse, ‘Xmas Tree’, and I’ve inherited a photo showing its one and only win: the Ascot Handicap at Ascot in March 1929, so I was interested to know where the Ascot track was. The John Wren connection was interesting. When the TV series of Power Without Glory first aired, I remember the surviving uncle reminiscing about many of the events Hardy had fictionalised. The Fitzroy trotting track was actually in Thornbury, off St George’s Road, just a few blocks from where I now live. It’s also discernible on the wonderful 1945 aerial survey of Melbourne
Hi Marcus,
Great piece. Is there any chance you can add this to wikipedia?
Glad you liked it. I used to do a lot more Wikipedia editing in the past, but don’t have the time available these days between adding blog posts and uploading photographs.
As for the the story of Melbourne’s former racetracks, it goes much further than just Ascot Vale – there were about a dozen of them located around the city:
http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00722b.htm
My grandfather, Harold Sutherland Eames, rode at Ascot in 1914. He rode Narahquong to victory in the Grand National Hurdle at Flemington in 1918. He died at the Exhibition Buildings hospital in 1919 from the Spanish Flu when aged 24.
He rode ponies at many proprietary racecourse dotted around Melbourne. He also rode at provincial and country meetings.
He rode and trained horses in Java (now Indonesia) in 1917-18 under engagement for a Mr Louis van Blommenstein.
I am writing a book on his life involving horse racing and would like to include a photo of horses going around at any proprietary track.
I have a photo of a race finish at ascot and Fitzry if anyone would like a copy. My grandfather on my dads side was a jockey (Carroll) and lived kent st st ascot vale. And on my mums side they eere a trotting family (Shadbolt) also lived in Ascot Vale. If anyone wants a copy email [email protected]
[…] Between Union and Ascot Vale Roads stands
Was interesting to find this . Wanted to know where Ascot was as I have been reading about Harness racing in the 30’s when it was held there in TROVE. I am researching a horse called Pretty Siam trained by Bert Nalder, sometimes ridden by R.Males . Am told it was owned? by William Daniel my Grandfather who had cups and silver plates etc. of its winnings. Unfortunately some time ago in family history they disappeared!
my mothers family lived on the racecourse, my grandfather was clarke of the course and looked after the tracks. mum always told us stories of growing up on ascot she said it was like living in the country. they had a jersey cow and my nan would make her own butter and also trade with it at the local shop. does anybody remember dick bell.
Yes Margaret, I do. The one I lknew was, I think, a farrier, and he lived with his wife and family in Ascot Street in Ascot Vale. They also trained trotters/racehorses, if my memory serves me well. He was very tall and I think his wife went to school at St Brendan’s Flemington. Her name was Valerie??
Have many happy memories of that area growing up. We lived in Railway Place West, and after I married I lived in Canterbury Street,until I moved to NSW. Now back in Victoria.
patricia your right, you remember my uncle master farrier dick bell he married grace. his father was also dick bell and he lived on the racecourse with his wife(my nan)alice and children dick, alice and Margie bell. john wren purchased the racecourse when my family lived there, he paid for auntie Margie to go to dame Nellie melba music conservatorium,she used to sing on 3DB radio. all the children went to the same school including my dad jim doolan who married alice.
Hi Margaret, Glad my memory was not too bad. Thought you might to know that on Channel 78 the racing channel, they are showing a series called “Lost Racetracks’, saw the first episode last Wednesday about 8pm, it talked about Ascot Racecourse and the rise of ‘Proprietary Racecourses, and showed an old identity, John Pattison and others talking about those days of racing. It is to be shown again this coming week, so may be worth a look at your old area. I found it most interesting, and it brought back many memories. I remember the name Jim Doolan, was he mixed up in racing?
Great article Marcus and excellent research. On the photo map, there is a street immediately south of the old Ascot Racecourse which has a dogleg at its eastern end. That street is Sandown Rd, and it’s where my mother in law and step-father in law live. Both of my in laws were raised in Ascot Vale (they’re now close to 70) and remember that Sandown Rd used to be lined with trainers’ home stables and horses would be walked to the races at Flemington. Most of the stables are gone but one solitary horse still lives on Sandown Rd, directly opposite my in laws place. We sometimes see it through the gate when we visit there. Not sure if it still races or is in retirement though.
Raced last weekend, ‘Best in Town’.
Great info, thanks Brenton 🙂
My mother grew up at 15 Ascot St and used to go across the road to the racecourse after school and ride horses with her friends. Beats being on Facebook like today’s kids. They used to find coins in the mud from the punters and bookies and rode their horses into the lake, probably just stormwater in the middle.
(They all had horses because as one correspondent above stated, nearly every house had stables. It was a horse industry hotspot.)
Remember well the trotters going down Ascot St to be worked at showgrounds,Jacobsons ,Ryans had stables in street.and top trotting driver Bill HARVEY lived in street ,also the Hobans.
Interseresting. Came back that way after seeing the Buckley St LX change.
Never knew that Flemington had 2 tracks, some are stables now. Part of the first line that were electrified. Essendon/Flemmington to Sandringham
In one year those arriving by train went from 43,707 to 51,212.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203697511/18775385
How did the other 50,000 get there?
Trams and walking I assume.
Hi Marcus,
Interesting story on the race tracks. I was wondering if you had any information on the old Oakleigh (Park) Racecourse or the Oakleigh Pony Track (proprietry track) from the 1890’s available please? Specifically around 1892. Thank you.
Unfortunately I haven’t dug further into the other tracks around Melbourne – this article just has a brief mention of it:
http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00722b.htm
My family had stables in Kent Street.
From what I believe they had been imported from England, 12 boxes, 3 tac rooms, shower room & outside toilet.
The house was built after the stables, all completed by my family who were involved with the racing fraternity.
Unfortunately we sold & the stables are long gone, replaced with 13 Units.
Thankfully the house still stands with all my childhood memories including riding horses on the flats grounds.
I’m sure they were called the ? flats which I cannot remember.
Stedmans training track down on the Maribyrnong river was also a favourite place to ride.
Geez you get better with age. Such insightful history of the things that normal. Historians think are just everyday items that nobody cares about, such as a overpass or this race track. Thank you for what you have done. I so appreciate the time you have taken to complete something very fulfilling for me to read.
Glad you enjoy my work!