Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi, also known as Park 16, is a park located in the Southeastern Park Lands of the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n capital of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. It is bordered by

Fullarton Road Fullarton Road is a main road in the South Australian capital city of Adelaide. Route It runs north–south in a straight line from the eastern edge of the CBD to the south-eastern suburbs of the city. Its northern beginning is at the intersect ...

Greenhill Road Greenhill Road is a major road in Adelaide, South Australia, that provides a connection to the eastern and hills suburbs. Its western section, running along the south side of Adelaide Parklands, forms part of Adelaide's City Ring Route. Route ...

East Terrace East Terrace is a road that marks the eastern edge of the Adelaide city centre in Adelaide, South Australia. Description East Terrace is one of the main north–south thoroughfares through the east side of the city. Although the terrace esse ...

and Wakefield Road. Before 1897 it was known as the Old Adelaide Racecourse. It has hosted several major events in recent years, the most prominent of which were the

Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

from 1985 to 1995, and from 1999 the

Adelaide 500 The Adelaide 500, officially the BP Adelaide Grand Final, is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 and 2020 and again from 2022. The event uses a shortened form ...

. This race was cancelled in 2020 for the 2021 season during the

COVID pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fev ...

, but returned in December 2022. Victoria Park is also the host of three Pedal Prix races through the year, run by the AHPVSS (Australian Human Powered Vehicle Super Series). The park's most prominent feature was the Victoria Park Racecourse, the home course of the

Adelaide Racing Club Adelaide Racing Club was a horse racing club which had its origins around 1870 but founded in 1879 in competition with the South Australian Jockey Club. The A.R.C. held their race meetings on the "Old Adelaide Racecourse" (later known as Victoria ...

prior to its amalgamation with the

South Australian Jockey Club South Australian Jockey Club is the principal race club in South Australia. First racing events The first horse racing events in South Australia took place at a well-attended picnic meeting held over 1 and 2 January 1838. In August 1838, riding ...

; the main track was 2,360 metres long, with the longest home-straight of any horse racing track in Australia.

Early history

In the early days of Adelaide, races were held in this area, the East Park Lands, opposite the Britannia Hotel, (eponym of the Britannia Roundabout), the course redefined from time to time. These were no doubt very fine horses, but gentlemen's hacks not

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

s, and ridden by their owners, not professional jockeys. A Turf Club was formed in August 1838, conducting two-day meetings in January 1839 and January 1840, then folded. It was re-formed in 1848, adopting Newmarket Rules to obviate the kind of disputes which sank its predecessor, and

vice-regal A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

patronage to ensure access to the racecourse. In the ensuing years, racing activity centred on "private matches" between horses, such as that between Mercury and Coronet, often attracting great public interest and consequent wagers. Three-day "summer meetings" were held in January 1850 on a new track in November 1850, November 1851, December 1852, and December 1853. Similar "autumn meetings" were held in May 1854 and April 1855 The

was formed in January 1856, and conducted the autumn meetings in April 1856, April 1857, April 1858, April 1859, April 1860, April 1861, and April 1862

Competition from Thebarton

The Adelaide suburb of

Thebarton Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore St ...

was a popular area for equestrian events, and numerous hurdle and other races were held there in the 1850s and earlier, in the streets and through properties of sympathetic landowners. A course was laid out on land held by E. M. Bagot and

Gabriel Bennett Gabriel Bennett (23 December 1817 – 13 September 1895) was an auctioneer, stock and cattle salesman and horse breeder in South Australia. He founded the stock and station agents Bennett and Fisher. History Bennett was born in London, a son of ...

of Bagot & Bennett, stock agents — Section 48, bounded by the thoroughfares now known as

Henley Beach Road Currie Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the

South Road South Road and its southern section as Main South Road outside of Adelaide is a major north–south conduit connecting Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, in South Australia. It is one of Adelaide's most important arterial and bypass roads. A ...

, Darebin Street and Bagot Avenue. Non-club meetings were held in January 1859, January 1860, and April 1861. The Jockey Club re-formed in 1861, and adopted the Thebarton track, dubbed the "Butchers' course" or "South Road course" and, determined to control all horse racing in the State, recovered their grandstand from the Adelaide Course. They held their first summer meeting there on 1–2 January 1862, and in April 1863 the first three-day SAJC autumn races. Other events were the 1863 St Patrick's Day races and the Grand Annual Steeplechase in September 1866. A pony race which was to have been held at the Adelaide course was transferred to Thebarton, the organisers blaming condition of the track for the decision. The first six

Adelaide Cup The Adelaide Cup is a South Australian Jockey Club Group 2 Thoroughbred handicap horse race for three-year-olds and older, run over 3,200 metres at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, Australia on the second Monday in March. Total prize mone ...

s (1864–1869) were held there. The race-going public, at first enthusiastic, became disillusioned with the new course — it was hot and dusty, and not so conveniently situated to North Adelaide and the eastern suburbs, so many pleasure-seekers found alternative distractions. The Jockey Club collapsed under weight of its debts and the lease was terminated in 1869.

Becomes "Old Adelaide Course"

Racing continued at the East Park Lands despite pressure from Thebarton. In 1864 P. B. Coglin took a 14-year lease on the Adelaide course. In December 1865 the Old Adelaide Course Racing Club (later Adelaide Racing Club) was formed by a breakaway group from the SAJC, sparking a rivalry, at times bordering on vitriolic antagonism, that lasted a hundred years. The 1869 autumn races were held at the East Park Lands, now dubbed the "Old Adelaide Course" The 1870 New Year's races were organised by

, who revived regular race meetings there in May 1871.

Competition from Morphettville

Some races had been conducted in the Glenelg region in the 1850s, at the rear of John Bernie's Morphett Arms Hotel. After five or six years of existence in name only, the SAJC re-formed in 1873, and acquired its own ground at

Morphettville Morphettville is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Marion. The northern part of the suburb is bounded by the Glenelg tram line, and fully occupied by the Morphettville Racecourse (horseracing track). The tram barn storage an ...

(dubbed the "Elder Course" for their benefactor,

Thomas Elder Sir Thomas Elder (5 August 1818 – 6 March 1897) was a Scottish-Australian Pastoral farming, pastoralist, highly successful businessman, philanthropist, politician, race-horse owner and breeder, and public figure. Amongst many other things, h ...

, or "

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

course" for its unstable soil) and held their first meeting there on 3 January 1876. The April 1878 three-day autumn meeting was held at the Elder Course, Morphettville, and the Adelaide Cup of 1879 was held there on the Tuesday after Easter.

The "Old Course" revived

Jack McGowan 1896 Victoria Park on Jack Spratt

In 1879 a 21 year lease on the course was awarded by the City Council to Bennett, William Blackler,

Seth Ferry Seth "The Master" Ferry (25 May 1839 – 20 October 1932) was a prominent rider, dealer, owner and trainer of racehorses in South Australia. Biography Seth Ferry was born at "Providence House", Ponders End, Lower Edmonton, Middlesex, where his p ...

and Dr

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

, who launched the

, which was formally founded on 14 October 1879, adopting

Victorian Racing Club The Victoria Racing Club was founded in 1864. It was formed following the disbanding of the Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club. A legacy passed from the Victoria Turf Club was the annual "race that stops a nation", the Melbourne Cup, ...

rules; the committee to consist of the four lessees plus three elected members: George Church, Henry Hughes, and W. F. Stock. In late 1879 the law prohibiting totalizators on South Australian racecourses was disallowed, and Ferry purchased a £300 "box tote", which he leased to the Club. It proved profitable for the Club when Mata, banned elsewhere, won the 1881 Birthday Cup. Led by Ferry and Blackler, the Club spent so much on the ground, prizemoney and infrastructure (far more was spent on the grandstand than was required by the Council's covenant) that within a year two lessees dropped out, leaving just Ferry and Blackler, who brought in his son W. A. Blackler as a third shareholder. Several committee members also dropped out, necessitating fresh elections to restore the quorum. In time however, the lease proved a

cash cow A cash cow is a product or service that generates significant revenue over a long period of time for the company that sells it. They also generate more cash than they consume. Revenue “ milked” from cash cows is often used to subsidise les ...

for the lessees, for which the City Council was roundly criticised by the Adelaide press. His good fortune did not last, as in 1883 Parliament passed the

Totalizator Repeal Act A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the char ...

, making its use illegal and race-going less attractive. Then came the drought of 1884–1886, and a consequent recession, which disproportionately affected the ARC, causing a rift between Ferry, who was prepared to wait for better times, and Blackler, who was keen to surrender the lease. The Council wanted to extend Halifax Street through to Fullarton Road, cutting the course in two, and would have compensated them financially. Ferry had his way, and for a few years persevered with low-key meetings with modest prize money and consequently small fields, dominated by Ferry's own stable. Iconic races such as the Grand National Hurdle and the Adelaide Grand National were run on the track and won by South Australia's leading cross-country jockey Jack McGowan of Brooklyn Park in the late 1800s. The "Old Course" was renamed "Victoria Park" by

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Tucker Tucker may refer to: Places United States * Tucker, Arkansas * Tucker, Georgia * Tucker, Mississippi * Tucker, Missouri * Tucker, Utah, ghost town * Tucker County, West Virginia Outer space * Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in ...

on 4 August 1897.

1935 racebook

File:1935 ARC Birthday Cup Racebook P1.jpg, 1935 ARC Birthday Cup racebook front cover File:1935 ARC Birthday Cup Racebook P2.jpg, 1935 ARC Birthday Cup showing raceday officials File:1935 ARC Birthday Cup Racebook P3.jpg, 1935 ARC Birthday Cup starters and results File:1935 ARC Birthday Cup Racebook P4.jpg, 1935 ARC Birthday Cup showing the winner, Coronado File:1935 ARC Birthday Cup Racebook P5.jpg, 1935 ARC Birthday Cup showing charges of admission

Twentieth century

See Adelaide Grand Prix

Twenty-first century

Following the rejection of a proposal to upgrade horse and motor racing facilities in early 2008, the SAJC vacated the premises, moving their home course to

Morphettville Racecourse Morphettville Racecourse is the main horse racing Race track, course for the Australia, Australian state of South Australia, incorporating two separate tracks. Home to the South Australian Jockey Club, it is situated in the Adelaide suburb of ...

. The 1950s-era SAJC grandstand was demolished, as was a large brick wall adjacent Fullarton Road and other utility buildings. The heritage-listed 1880s-era grandstand was refurbished as part of a $16 million upgrade of the park's facilities. The park remains one of the venues for the

Adelaide International Horse Trials The Adelaide Equestrian Festival (AEF) is an annual three-day event held in the eastern Adelaide Park Lands, which border Adelaide city centre. It was known as the Australian International Three Day Event until 2022. A CCI5* event, the top rat ...

. In August 2008, the

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council, is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia. It is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

announced plans to turn Victoria Park into a "people's park", incorporating

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

, community sporting facilities, walking tracks and temporary motor racing facilities. Part of the

Adelaide Street Circuit The Adelaide Street Circuit (also known as the Adelaide Parklands Circuit) is a temporary street circuit in the Adelaide Parklands, East Parklands adjacent to the Adelaide central business district in South Australia, Australia. The "Grand Pr ...

was built in the northern portion of the park. Temporary grandstands and other facilities were erected whenever

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

events were hosted there. The

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

took place from

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, and a one-off

Le Mans series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

event, the

Race of a Thousand Years The 2000 Race of a Thousand Years was an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race and the final round of the 2000 American Le Mans Series. It was run on the Adelaide Street Circuit in Australia on New Year's Eve, 31 December 2000. The race wa ...

on 31 December 2000. The circuit hosted the

from 1999 until 2020; its cancellation for 2021 was announced due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Aust ...

, and declining attendance.Adelaide 500 Supercars race cancellation prompts calls for replacement events
''ABC News'', 30 October 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020. In 2020, the government established a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

testing site inside the park. The Adelaide 500 returned as the final round of the 2022 series.The Adelaide 500 is officially back
''

Auto Action ''Auto Action'' is an Australian motorsport magazine. The first edition was published on 24 February 1971. It became part of Australian Consolidated Press and was included in its 2012 sale to Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (), t ...

'' 19 March 2022

Notes

References

{{AdelaideRacing Horse racing venues in Australia Parks in Adelaide Sports venues in Adelaide