The Chronicles of Early Melbourne/Volume 2/Chapter 53
CHAPTER LIII.
SPORTS AND PASTIMES.
SYNOPSIS:—The First Races in Melbourne. —"Collar Grinning." —The Second Race Meeting. —The First Race Meeting at Flemington. —Formation of the Port Phillip Turf Club. —The Meeting of 1841. —Subsequent Meetings to 1846. —The Melbourne Meeting. —Petrel and "the Polka." —Subsequent Meetings to 1851. —"In Memoriam" of Mr. Isaac Hinds. —A Retrospect. —Venery. —The First Hunt. —"Old Tom Brown." —Mr. T. H. Pyke. —The First Pack of Hounds. —The Corio Club. —Death of Mr. John Perks. —The Werribee Hunt Club. —Mr. James Henderson. —The Hounds at Emerald Hill.
The Turf.
HISTORY hath it that Melizyus, a king of Thessaly, was the first to tame horses for the use of man,
"And he himselfe did first the horse bestride;"
But history knoweth not, and is silent as to the personnel of the first horse-breaker in Port Phillip. Given the proverbial germs of an Australian township, the water-hole, forge, store and grog-shop, amongst all British-born colonizers, these are usually succeeded by a Wesleyan Chapel, a Temperance Society, a race club, or cricket club; and so it was in the instance I am writing of. The Wesleyans and the Teetotallers got the start of the Sporting fraternity, for in the beginning of 1838 a kind of association was improvised, which dubbed itself the "Melbourne Race Club," and its first step was a preliminary canter towards the inauguration of those "Isthmian Games" which aftewards became so racey of Port Phillip soil, and have since placed Victoria second to no other off-shoot of the Mother-country in that sport which has maintained a popularity in every clime and age, drifting back as far as a glimmer of history can be found to light the way. "Johnny Fawkner " commenced the rôle of the demagogue in this remote era, and he so far patronised the club as to permit it to hold its first gathering at Fawkner's Hotel, on the 15th January, when a Mr. Henry Allen was voted to the Chair. Business was commenced by a declaration that it was right and proper to initiate annual races, and the following office-bearers were elected nem. con.:— Stewards: Messrs. Henry Arthur and William Wood; Secretary and Treasurer: Mr. Francis Nodin; Clerk of the Course: Mr. David Morley. It was decided that the races should come off on the 6th and 7th March, and the stakes to be competed for were:— First Day.—Town Plate—25 sovs.; entrance, 1 sov.; distance, 2 miles; heats; the weights varying from 8st. 6lb. for three-year-olds to 9st. 12lb. for six yearers and aged. Ladies' Purse Of 20 sovs.; I sov. entrance; gentlemen riders; distance one mile; heats; and weights from 9st. 12lb. to 12st.; adapted to the ages from three to six years and over. Second Day.—The Hunter Stakes—15 sov.; entrance, 1 sov.; gentlemen riders; heats; one mile and a distance, with five leaps of four feet in height; catch weights. Beaten Horses—10s., post entry; one mile and a distance; heats; Town Plate weights. The following rules of management were agreed to:— No horses to be entered unless the real property of a subscriber of £2 to the race fund. The Clerk was authorized to superintend the marking out of the course and preparing it for the races; and the members of the Club were to dine at Fawkner's Hotel on the evening of the day upon which the Hunter Stakes were disposed of. All horses were to be entered for "the three first races" on the 5th March, between 7 and 10 p.m. Winning horses were to pay £1 to the Clerk of the Course "for the use and porterage of the scales and weights," and disputes (if any) were to be settled on the course by the Stewards, whose decision was to be final. Great were the preparations made for this interesting "Maiden" event, and the young men and maidens of the time (children being then an almost unknown luxury) were on the tiptoe of expectation for al fresco flirtations.
Batman's Hill (which has since disappeared to make room for the equilia of steeds of different calibre, the steaming coursers with iron ribs and steel muscles) was then one of the half-dozen beauty spots about Melbourne. Until Batman bestowed his name on it, it was known as the She-oak Hill, because it was dotted with such timber; and the grassy flat that surrounded it on all but the Yarra side, and stretched away into the swamp, then swarming with native wild-fowl, was as if formed by Nature's hand for a racecourse, unless when inundated by floods. Here, where the Spencer Street Railway Station now stands, was marked out with a few stakes, saplings, and broad palings, Melbourne's first racing ground. A "Grand Stand" was formed by the lashing together of a couple of large bullock drays; and the jumps for the hunters were made up of a few logs and gum-tree branches. No such folly was then indulged in as training horses, for the animals brought to the post were the rough, hardy, hard-worked animals of the bush. The era for sporting silk jackets and caps, top boots and buff breeches had not arrived. The jocks were well content to show off in red and blue flannel shirts, cabbage-tree hats, and leather leggings; and the only accessories to modern sporting tournaments then in vogue were spurs and whip-cord, both of which were plied unmercifully. At the date of the races Fawkner's MS. journal had passed from the caligraphic into the typographic state, and of this printed prodigy there is no copy extant giving a report of the first races. Some years ago, however, an old colonist-long since gone to his account-favoured me with some viva voce particulars of the occasion.
First Day, 6th March, 1838.
The morning was as promising as the most ardent lover of a modern Cup Day could desire. Several hundred persons were present on the course, and order was preserved by half-a-dozen expiree convicts appointed as special constables for the purpose. Dettlers rode in several miles from the country to be "all there," and five miles then counted for more than fifty now, for the bush was thick and troublesome, the travelling tracks few in number, and, such as they were, they were cut up into deep ruts by the lumbering bullock teams by which they were usually traversed.
Anything in the semblance of convenient locomotion was an extreme rarity in the small rural area of the province then settled, and folks coming from any distance for the occasion did so on horseback.
The starting post was fixed close by the now North Melbourne Railway Station, and the run was semi-circular, sweeping round in the direction of the Metropolitan Gas Works, thence straight home to the north-western ascent of the Hill, where a scanty scrap of bunting fluttered as a winning post from a pole of the clothes-line order.
J. P. Fawkner and Michael Carr, two of the earliest publicans, had put up what, for want of better, passed as refreshment booths. Each was simply a small cart, or rather truck, surrounded by four wooden uprights driven into the ground, with some old sails and bags nailed around to provide a precarious shelter. The liquids absorbed were rum, brandy, ginger-beer, and bottled porter. There were no sixpenny or threepenny "goes." The Jamaica, Cognac, Bass, or their very inferior counterfeits, were one shilling each "tot;" but the tipple most in demand was a "spider" (an infusion of brandy and ginger-beer), and the price paid for the "insect" was fifteenpence. Weak shandygaff (ginger-beer and beer) was the favourite beverage of such of the ladies as indulged in an out-door restorative. For the Town Plate there were three entries—viz., Postboy, belonging to Mr. Robinson; the names of the other horses are not known, but they were owned by Messrs. Woods and Russell. Both heats were won by Postboy. The Ladies' Purse was won by Mr. Wedge's mare, beating two others—names unknown; and though the sport was of a very indifferent quality, the spectators were willing to make allowance for unavoidable shortcomings, so pleased were they at the introduction of a pastime which recalled the kindred scenes of the mother country they had left, the remembrance of which is always fondly cherished by the immigrant during the first few years of his expatriation.
Collar Grinning.
Amongst the obsolete amusements of Old England was a contortion contest known as "grinning" for a wager, and an ancient chronicle records that on Whit Tuesday (9th June, of 1786) a grand grinning match for a gold-laced hat came off at Hendon, in Middlesex. Six competitors were ranged on a platform, over which waved a banner thus inscribed in large capital letters:—
"Detur Tetriori; Or
The Ugliest Grinner
Shall be the Winner."
Each individual was supplied with a horse collar, through which he was to perform. A solo of five minutes' facial distortion was to be executed seriatim, and then all were to join in a grinning chorus. The prize was won by an employé of a vinegar merchant, though he was accused of a foul, in consequence of having, just before the exhibition, rinsed his mouth with verjuice, whereby the dilated orifice would be rendered more hideous. There could be as little unfair play in so doing, one would imagine, as in a jockey artificially sweating down to a required light weight, or other preliminary training for any muscular competition. However, at the conclusion of the day's racing, the edifying scene of grinning through a horse collar was publicly witnessed for the first, and I believe, the last time in the colony.
As the assemblage was on the point of dispersing, some humorous customer, in a happy moment of swipy inspiration, suggested as a suitable afterpiece to the billed programme, that a grinning match be extemporized. Though there was no golden decked bell-topper for a guerdon, a hat was pressed into the service, and taken round to receive the contributions of the crowd. Silver coinage amounting to about forty shillings was soon dropped in, an inducement which quickly brought to the scratch four or five of the ugliest mugged fellows of the small community. The Grand Stand was to be the convincing ground. The equipments were borrowed without much difficulty, and a huge ticket-of-leave holder, afterwards well-known as Big Mick," was, by common consent, appointed master of the ceremonies. He mounted the shaky, drop-like contrivance, and with the apparatus under his arm, looked as hangmanish as a "Jack Ketch," at an execution. When the competing team turned out, the favourite (decidedly the most ill-favoured), was found in the person of Thomas Curnew, about fifty years of age, and a carpenter by trade. Though he had not much hair, the crop was rugged and red, and so pronounced in colour as to make him appear skull-capped in fire. His mouth was a spheroid, slightly twisted, and his laugh was in itself, a whole grin, set off by an enormous set of tusky teeth. Divesting himself of a seedy peajacket, he was the first on board, and facing the populace, made such a frightfully wry face as cowed all opposition, and secured for him the distinction of a walk, or rather, grin over. "Big Mick," in a quick, business manner, adjusted the collar by arranging it on the other's head with as much painstaking as a modiste would evince in fitting a new bonnet, and shaking him by the hand, wished him luck, and jumped down. The "phizical" pantomime then commenced, and for ten minutes there was a display of physiognomical posturing, difficult to be accounted for by any deductions of anatomization. The bones, muscles, sinews, and tissues of Curnew's head seemed as if composed of whalebone and India-rubber. At one time his tongue looked as if jumping out of his mouth, his lips and palate would be drawn in as if about to be swallowed, whilst the chin and forehead approached as if to meet. His antics evoked thunders of acclamation, in the midst of which he regained terra firma, secured the proceeds of the hat-shaking, and betook himself to the Fawknerian booth, where the stakes were speedily melted down through the agency of a "fire-water."
And so wound up the first public race day in Victoria. Second Day.—7th March, 1838.
If the first day was a comparative failure, the second was almost a total one. The Hunter Stakes came to an utter fiasco. The five gum-tree leaps were so clumsily constructed that their outre appearance, frightening the horses, caused some of them to refuse absolutely, whilst another topped the eminence, and one of his forelegs slipping through the branches, both man and beast were so securely trapped as to be extricated with danger and difficulty. Mr. Wood's horse, ridden by Mr. De Villiers, subsequently an Officer in the Black Mounted Police, pulled off the prize, after one spill. For the Beaten Horse Stakes no one offered, probably because they were so beaten up by their previous efforts that they were reluctant to stake any more, post or no post entry. Besides, there was not much inducement, for the winner would fob nothing but the entrance money, and therefore no glory, and but very little of anything else was to be gained. The club dinner at Fawkner's, to which some outsiders were admitted, was a great success, considering the numerical strength of the company, and the excessive compotation indulged in. There was such a run on the landlord's limited stock of bad champagne, that it lasted no time, when the diners turned to hot toddy, and from that to brandy neat, and thenceforth straight drinking was the order of the night until the following morning, when there was scarcely a man amongst them who was not what is technically known as "suffering a recovery." Betting was very little indulged in at this meeting, and, as far as it went, it was even wagering. Some of the swells staked bell-topper and Manilla hats with each other, and gloves with the very few ladies in attendance. The mechanic, or the bush hand, ventured as far as bottles of rum, which were not only freely paid, but more freely drank, and the only casualty was a wretched member of the demi-monde, which even then had made its appearance, who rushing, about daybreak, in a state of delirium tremens, from a disreputable den in Flinders Lane, jumped into the river near the "Falls," and was drowned before any effectual assistance could be rendered.
The next year's meeting (1839), exhibited a marked advance upon its predecessor. A superior class of horses was being imported, and the advertisements in the two regularly printed weekly newspapers included notices of several well-bred stallions for stud purposes. The population was also rapidly increasing, and the consequence was the manifestation of greater interest in the fostering of the principal national sport. The races were taken in hand with much more spirit, but this ought not to lessen the credit due to the few plucky pioneers of 1838. On the 9th February, 1839, a meeting was held at the Lamb Inn (on the site of the now Scott's Hotel), "for the purpose of electing Stewards for the Melbourne Races." Mr. W. D. G. Wood was installed as Chairman, and the following appointments were made for the current year, viz.:—Stewards: Messrs. W. D. G. Wood, Thomas Glass, Anthony Cottrell, and John Aitken; Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. John Wood; and Messrs. E. D. Wedge and John M'Nall, Clerks of the Course. Resolutions were passed:— (1). That the races be run over the Melbourne Course on the 15th and 16th March, each day at one o'clock; half-hour between starts. (2). The rules of the English Jockey Club to be observed, and no horse to be allowed to run unless the bona-fide property of a subscriber of two sovereigns to the Race Fund. (3). No horse to be allowed to run if imported after date. (4). Entries to be made between 8 and 10 p.m. on 14th March. (5). All matches to be entered by the Secretary; and (6). The winners of stakes or match to pay one sovereign to the Race Fund. The movement having now assumed more pretentious and methodical proportions, some sort of system, though of a rude kind, was introduced. It was resolved to have an all-round or circular course about a mile in extent, and for the Grand Stand, instead of spliced drays, a small stage or platform was erected, not at all unlike the scaffold on which the first blackfellows were hanged in Melbourne, as uncouth-looking, insecure, and even more shaky.
On the eve of the battle all the entered horses were required to appear on view at Batman's Hill for the gratification of the connoisseurs and gossips of the day, and though there had been but brief time for preparation, the turn-out was better than expected. The Second Race Meeting.
First Day.—Monday, 15th March, 1839.
Town Plate, all ages, 2 sovs., 30 sovs. added from Race Fund; heats, 2 miles and a distance; weights, from two-year-olds, 7st. 9lb.; six and aged, 10st.; mares and geldings allowed 3lb.
| Mr. Brown's bm Mountain Maid | 1 | 1 | Mr. P. Scott's cg Shamrock | 3 | 4 | |
| Mr. M'Nall's bg Peacock | 2 | 2 | Mr. Cottrell's b m Fancy | 4 | 3 |
The Mountain Maid had it all her own way in both heats.
A Match for 20 sovs., p. p., Mr. Pitman's chesnut pony Tuppy against Mr. E. D. Wedge's piebald pony Friday; heats; twice round the course.
The Ladies' Purse of 2 sovs. each, with 30 sovs. added; weights same as Town Plate, heats; two miles; gentlemen riders.
| Mr. Brown's Mountain Maid | 1 | 1 | Mr. M'Nall's Peacock | Dist. | |
| Mr. Wood's Pet | 2 |
Second Day—16th March.
Such a wholesale turn out of the Melbournians was witnessed that it was said the town had more than doubled its entire population. The weather was glorious, Batman's Hill was grand, the course in capital order, the people in excellent humour, but the racing very poor.
Hurdle Race for all ages; 3 sovs. each, with 30 sovs. added; heats; two miles with six leaps of 4 ft. 6 in.; Town Plate weights; gentlemen riders. The winner of the Town Plate or Ladies' Purse to carry 5 lb. extra. Only two horses started, viz:—
| Mr. Batman's Postboy | 1 | Mr. Wood's Trump | dis. |
There were four jumps, and these, though in no way formidable, were awkwardly constructed. Trump was the superior animal, though he baulked the first leap, but was landed safely over with the third try. At the second jump Postboy knocked down a rail when Trump's owner, for some unstated reason, withdrew him and the other went his way leisurely, took the rest of the leaps, and, of course won. An objection lodged with the Stewards was compromised by the owners of the horses agreeing to another trial of speed, which was fixed for the 1st of April.
The Tavern Plate of 1 sov., with 20 sovs. added; heats; one mile and a distance; Town Plate weights; the winner of the Town Plate and Ladies' Purse to carry 5 lb. extra. Five horses started, viz.:—
| Mr. Cottrell's Fancy | 1 | 1 | Mr. Carr's Governor Bourke | 4 | 4 | |
| Mr. P. Scott's Shamrock | 2 | 2 | Mr. Wood's Pet | 5 | 5 | |
| Mr. Batman's Postboy | 3 | 3 |
Sweepstakes of 15 sovs.; heats; one mile and a distance. Post entry of 1 sov., and catch weights. No winner to compete. Three horses started, viz.—
| Mr. P. Scott's Shamrock | 1 | 1 | Mr. Wood's Pet | 3 | dis. | |
| Mr. Carr's Governor Bourke | 2 | 2 |
Upon the whole the meeting was pronounced to have been a success. No accident of any account occurred, the people were more orderly than expected, the Stewards much lauded for the efficient manner in which they had acquitted themselves. The only contretemps, if it can be so termed, was a detected case of pocket-picking. There was some notion of pitching the Van Diemonian "buz-bloke" into the river, but instead, he was kicked off about his business. On Fools' Day, 1st April, the disputed match between Postboy and Trump was decided at the same place, and it proved the most sensational of any of the races yet run. Though the day was fine, the course was deep and slushy in consequence of recent heavy rain. Preliminary differences sprung up at the post which it took two hours to adjust, and, at length, when the people in attendance were putting it down as "a sell," the horses were started. Postboy, in the first heat, did not take kindly to the four leaps, and had to negotiate each of them several times. He managed two by the help of steel and whalebone, but at the third fell heavily, shooting his rider upon his head so violently, that blood spirted through his nostrils. Yet, singular to say, he rallied sufficiently to be able not only to ride, but to win the second and third heats. Meantime, Trump took all the leaps flying, and won in fine style. After the lapse of some three-quarters of an hour Postboy's rider was firmly re-mounted, and the horses went away on the second heat, but Trump became unmanageable, and so Postboy, evidently improved by his late reverse, scored an easy victory. The golden rule, Palman qui meruit ferat, was never so capriciously reversed by chance as on this occasion, as there could be no comparison between the horses. Trump was the favourite, as was also his owner, who had incurred much trouble and outlay in promoting the success of the past race meeting, and the public would have been better pleased if victory had declared herself on his side.
Preparations for the next year's gathering (1840) were commenced at a more seasonable time than hitherto, for a public meeting to arrange for the ensuing races was held on the 9th October, at the Lamb Inn, with Mr. H. F. Gisborne presiding. This Mr. Gisborne had just arrived from England with the appointment of Commissioner of Crown Lands, and was not only the best amateur sportsman of those times, but as ready with pen as whip, and some very smartly-written turf notices of his appeared occasionally in the newspapers. The Stewards nominated were Messrs. H. F. Gisborne, W. H. Yaldwyn, J. D. Baillie, and John Hunter; Secretary and Treasurer: Dr. Barry Cotter; and Messrs. Salmon and Hawkes, Clerks of the Course. It was decided that the races should take place on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of March, 1840, over a course to be selected by the Stewards; and the regulations were substantially similar to those of the previous meet, with the addition that horses imported after date from Van Dieman's Land or New South Wales, and which had won any stake or plate, shall carry 7 lb. extra. A private match had been some time before run at Flemington between two mares belonging to Messrs. John Brown and John Highett, and the superiority of this place for a race-course suggested itself so forcibly that it was determined that the coming race meeting should be held there. This, therefore, was the first time that the since far-famed Flemington was so utilized. Country visitors flocked into Melbourne before the races, and the inns, now increased in number and superior in accommodation, were crowded.
The First Race Meeting at Flemington.
First Day, 3rd March, 1840.
The new course had been put to rights as far as limited means and appliances would permit. The Grand Stand was a rough scaffolding near the river side. The winning-post was planted close by, and a short space of the run home was staked and roped. Ranged near the Stand, between the course and the river, were four publicans' booths, kept by Messrs. Lewis Pedrana, Thomas Halfpenny, J. Moss, and William Sidebottom. Pedrana's was the Grand Stand Refreshment mart, a sort of bower of Bacchus, fabricated out of ti-tree with the foliage left on. Moss and Sidebottom had small tents; but Halfpenny's was a substantial, commodious, weatherboard three-roomed structure, partitioned with Chinese curtains. He had as head-waiter, for £1 10s. per diem, an individual who afterwards became a wealthy publican, was an Alderman of Fitzroy, with a street of that city called after him. He could reckon his annual income during the gold fever, by thousands; but, getting entangled in commercial shoals, he ultimately sank in lower water than ever. On the first day the Grand Stand booth (never the best paying one in the old times) took about £30; Halfpenny's, £80; and the others, some £40 each—large pickings considering the people present; but wages were high, and employment brisk. The fees paid by publicans for this privilege of out-of-town grog selling, went towards the remuneration of some special constables sworn-in to maintain good order. These pacificators (lucus a non lucendo) were, pro tem, under the control of the then Chief-Constable (Mr. William Wright, better known as "The Tulip "). This "Tulip," of whom some amusing reminiscences are given in an earlier chapter, was the Grand Marshal of several of the earlier meetings at Flemington, and he got through his unenviable mission as satisfactorily as could be reasonably expected. There was a large attendance from Melbourne, though pedestrians complained bitterly of the long tramp, and would have much preferred if the Stewards had not changed the venue. Numbers travelled by rowed boats from town, for river steamers were then an unattainable luxury, and rail transit was not even dreamed of. The other modes of conveyance were "mounted," dog-carts, bullock-drays, and the like.
The First Race.
Though not in the official programme, the opening race was a match for fifty guineas, between Lieut. Vignolle's bl. c. Conrad, two years, and Mr. Gisborne's b. c. Hassan, two years; heats; two miles and a distance; owners riders. The betting had been freely offered and taken, two to one on Hassan.
The first heat was won without any extraordinary effort by Conrad. After starting in the second heat, Hassan threw his rider, Mr. Blakeney, and broke his arm, so that Conrad had easy work to make the winning. The riding by Gisborne, as the owner, was waived by consent, and Blakeney, unfortunately for him, acted as a substitute.
The Town Plate. Of 5 sovs. each, with £50 added; heats, two miles and a distance; weights for age, from the two-year-old at 8 st., to 10 st. for the six-yearers and aged; mares and geldings to be allowed 3 lb.
| Mr. Wood's bay mare, aged, Mountain Maid—black and red | 1 | 1 | Mr. Bailie's brown horse, 6 years, Duke of Argyle—pink and white. | |
| Mr. Powlett's brown horse, 5 years, Sir Charles, green and blue | 2 | 2 | Mr. Willis's brown gelding, aged, Deceiver—red and black. | |
| Mr. Browne's chestnut mare, 6 years, Old Countess—tartan and black cap | 3 | 3 | Mr. Russell's brown gelding, Freedom, 6 years—green and gold. |
On this race the betting ranged from 2½ to 3 to 1 against Sir Charles and the Mountain Maid, both freely backed against the field. None of the others were looked at.
The Ladies' Purse—Of 30 sovs., with 3 sovs. entrance added; three mile race; gentlemen riders, and weights from 9 st. for two-year-olds to 11 st. for six-yearers and over.
There were only three starters, viz.:—
| Mr. Wood's b g aged, Will-if-I-Can—red and black | 1 |
| Mr. Highett's b m Music, 6 years—crimson and black cap | 2 |
| Mr. Russell's b g Freedom, 6 years—green and gold, black cap | 3 |
The owners of each animal rode, and Will-if-I-Can was the favourite. Whipcord seemed to be particularly in request, and applied accordingly. Mr. Wood had not much trouble in pulling off the prize.
The Maiden Plate.—For horses who never ran for any stake or plate. Entrance, 2 sovs., and £25 added. Heats, one mile and a distance. Weight for age.
| Mr. Carrington's ch g Romeo, 3 years—red and black | 1 | 1 |
| Mr. Yaldwyn's b h Blacklegs, 4 years—black and white stripes | 2 | 2 |
| Mr. Powlett's b f Matilda, 2 years—green and blue | 3 | dis. |
| Mr. Highett's Irish Lass, 5 years—crimson, and black cap | 4 | |
| Mr. Russell's c h Pickwick, 5 years—green and orange. |
A Private Match was run for 20 guineas, between Mr. Powlett's bay pony Peter, and Mr. Highett's bay pony Banker. One mile and a half; when Peter won easily.
Second Day. 4th March.
The Tavern Plate.—For all ages. 3 sovs. entrance, with £50 added. Heats, two miles and a distance. Town Plate weights.
| Mr. Brown's ch m Countess, 6 years—tartan | 1 | 1 | Mr. Powlett's br h Sir Charles, 5 years old—green and blue. | |
| Mr. Wood's b m Mountain Maid, aged—black and red | 2 | 2 | Mr. Willis' br g Deceiver, aged—black and red. | |
| Mr. Highett's b m Luna, 4 years—striped tri-colour. | Mr. Baillie's br h Duke of Argyle, aged—pink and white. | |||
| Mr. Gibb's ch m Maid of Lorne, 4 yrs—black and pink. |
Only the two old mares started, and they appeared to be pretty well matched. It was almost neck and neck running throughout both heats, which were won by a shave. The old ladies got unmercifully punished, and until their dying hour ought not to forget that day's whippings.
The Trial Stakes.—For two and three-year-olds. Two sovs. entrance, with £30 added. Heats, one mile and a distance. Mares and geldings allowed 3 lbs.
| Mr. Carrington's ch g Romeo, 3 years—red and black. | 1 | 1 | Mr. Gisborne's bc Hassan, 2 years—black and crimson. | |
| Mr. Powlett's bl f Matilda, 2 years—blue and green. | 2 | dis. | Mr. Vignolle's bl c Concord, 2 years—pink and brown. | |
| Mr. Ewart's bf Deception, 2 years—black, pink and green | 3 | 2 | Mr. Baillie's bf Western Lass, 2 years—pink and white. | |
| Mr. Evans' b f Maid of the Mill, 2 years—tartan. |
Matilda was the favourite, and disappointed her admirers. In the first heat she had no chance against Romeo, who was master of the situation all through; and in the second heat she ran against a post and threw her rider. Hassan made no show at all, and Conrad, Western Lass, and Maid of the Mill did not start.
Pony Stakes, for horses 14 hands and under, 1 sov. entrance, with £20 added; heats 1 mile and a distance; catch weights.
| Mr. Powlett's bh Peter—blue and green | 4 | 1 | 1 | Mr. Strode's b p Baron Munchausen—white. | |
| Mr. Gourlay's b p Banker | 1 | 2 | 2 | Mr. Carrington's b p Tory—true blue. | |
| Mr. Baillie's Tom Bowling—pink and white | 2 | 3 | 3 | Mr. William's g p Conservative—green. | |
| Mr. Watson's ch p Fairy—green. | Mr. Ewart's b p Deception—black, pink and green. |
Deception, the Baron, and Conservative were scratched; Fairy and Tory were not placed; and Peter, who put forth indomitable pluck, "broke the bank" after a hard day's work and a well-won fight. Peter, Tom Bowling and Deception were the favourites, especially the latter, in whose favour 2 to 1 was freely offered. The result proved that so far as his backers' pockets were concerned, his hipponymic was no misnomer.
Third Day 5th March.
A Hurdle Race was the first event on the card, for which there were only three starters.
| Mr. Wood's ch g Capsicum, aged; owner rider—red. | Mr. Yaldwyn's bl g Snowball, aged—black and white stripes. | |
| Mr. Highett's Irish Lass; 5 yrs.; owner rider—red and black. |
The Heidelberg Cup, 3 miles, gentlemen riders, 50 sovs., and 5 guineas entrance. Town Plate weights.
| Mr. Wood's br g Will-if-I-Can, aged—red and black | 1 | Mr. Yaldwyn's b h Blacklegs, 4 yrs.—black, pink and white; withdrawn. | |
| MrMr. Highett's b m Music, yrs.—crimson and black cap | 2 | Mr. Russell's b g Freedom, 6 yrs.—green and gold, black cap; withdrawn. | |
| Mr. Powlett's br h Sir Charles, 5 yrs.—green and blue | 3 | ||
| Mr. Baillie's br h Duke of Argyle, 6 yrs. |
The four that came to the post made a capital start, and kept well together until half round the course, when Blacklegs bolted, and so lost all chance of the race. Coming to the distance, Will-if-I-Can shot a head, and won by several lengths, Music and Sir Charles working hard for second place. The winner's condition rendered it an easy victory.
The Beaten Stakes (heats) summoned to the start half-a dozen competitors for the first heat, but only the following two showed at the end:—
| Mr. Highett's b m Irish Lass | 1 | 1 | Mr. Russell's br g Freedom | 2 | 2 |
It was an easy race in both trials for the Lass, for Freedom never had the ghost of a chance.
A Hack Race (heats) wound up the day's sport. A dozen started, but only two were placed.
| Mr. Reid's b m Medora | 1 | 1 | Mr. Highett's b f Banker | 2 | 2 |
This was almost a repetition of the running for the Beaten Stakes. Medora won both heats in a canter.
There was very little money wagering, but many pairs of gloves changed hands, a mode of gambling to which the ladies were by no means averse, for in any contingency the odds would be altogether in their favour. The great defect of the meeting was over-riding and over-beating, and but little or no regard was shown to weight or condition.
It was the first time that silk was sported, and the riders seemed so anxious to show off their uniforms that they appeared to the spectators as so many equestrian posturers instead of riders—coloured bipeds astride quadrupeds, working their bodies into every conceivable variety of position of which the human frame is capable, whilst their limbs wantoned in the most extravagant eccentricities of action. They evinced an utter recklessness of not only themselves, but the unfortunate animals they bestrode, and whether winning or losing they leathered the horses as if their arms were so many threshing machines. But there was much real enjoyment, for the populace went, saw, and laughed, returned home, some of them very drunk, and fewer quite sober, all comparatively in good humour. The special constables during the three days had a jolly sinecure of it, for, when in the humour, their "Tulip" was not a hard task-master, so that between their pay, and the countless free nobblers, and pots of half-and-half they imbibed, their only wish, in all probability, was that the three days might be extended to three hundred and sixty five, Sundays included, and if it happened to be a leap-year, as it was, so much the better. Though there was a large ingress of settlers during the week, the nights passed quietly enough for the homely townspeople. An occasional wayfarer, policeman, or watchman was knocked into a gutter; but, unlike the larrikinism of now-a-days, the capsized individual, instead of being half-choked or robbed, would be picked up where he fell, taken to a neighbouring tavern, and there either grogged or cashed as a solatium for contused head or offended dignity.
I have described this first race meeting on the now famous Flemington Course with more minuteness than I should otherwise have done, through a desire to preserve in some permanent form, the particulars of an event memorable in the Sporting Annals of Victoria. Such is the why and wherefore of the foregoing narrative of the inauguration of horse-racing at a place which has become par excellence the hippodrome of the Southern Hemisphere. Who shall be the raconteur of the run for the last Cup won there?
"The Rubicon" was now crossed, racing was an accomplished fact, and the young province most willingly committed to periodical race meetings near its capital. The spirit so kindled and fanned during the last two years, burned with a steadier flame during 1840, and private matches were run in several country places. Towards the close of the year the expediency of placing the affairs of the Turf on a permanent footing, engendered a desire for the foundation of some governing body of Action was promptly a representative character, able and willing to assume authoritative functions. taken accordingly, and the result was officially promulgated by the publication of the following notice in the newspapers:—
THE PORT PHILLIP TURF CLUB.
AT A MEETING
Held on the
12th DAY OF DECEMBER, 1840,
At Melbourne,
For the purpose of Establishing
ANNUAL RACE MEETINGS
In the
COUNTY OF BOURKE,
With a view to the Improvement of the Breed of Horses in the Colony generally, it was resolved—
1st. That a Committee be formed, to be called "The Committee of the Port Phillip Turf Club," and that to them and the Stewards be confided the entire management and arrangement of the races,
2nd. That the races take place annually, at such time or times as the Committee shall appoint, and that the first meeting be held on the 13th, 14th and 15th April next.
3rd. That the Committee do take for their guidance and direction the rules of the Newmarket Jockey Club, as far as the same are applicable to the circumstances of the colony.
4th. That annual subscriptions and donations be received, and that a book be opened for that purpose forthwith.
5th. That all subscriptions and donations be under the direct and entire control of the Stewards, whose decision in all cases of dispute shall be final.
6th. That the following gentlemen do constitute a Committee, three to form a quorum:—
J. D. LYON CAMPBELL, Esq.
C. H. EBDEN, Esq.
J. HAWDON, Esq.
HUGH JAMIESON, Esq.
GEORGE B. SMYTH, Esq.
WILLIAM VERNER, Esq.
7th. That the following gentlemen be requested to act as Stewards at the ensuing races:—
J. HAWDON, Esq.
G. B. SMYTH, Esq.
W. VERNER, Esq.
Of the members of this first Turf Club Committee not one now (1884) survives. They were all gentlemen of the highest respectability, public-spirited, and sincerely devoted to the land of their adoption. Their names appear frequently in other chapters, wherein are described movements of various kinds, with which either as regards some or all they were more or less identified.
The entrance fee for membership was to be five guineas, with an annual payment of £2 2s. 6d., and "The Port Phillip Turf Club" was to be constituted on the 2nd January, 1841, all the members to be elected by ballot, the names of intending candidates to be sent to the Chairman (Mr. Verner) by the 24th December.
Amongst the rules adopted was the following:—"All horses entered to race to take their ages from the 1st day of August, that is, a horse foaled any time in 1840, after the 1st day of August, will be deemed one year old on the 1st day of August, 1841." The Meeting of 1841.
Batman's Hill was now, by common consent, abandoned as a racing arena, for the special fitness of the Saltwater River Flat was undeniable. For several years the new locality was known simply as "the Racecourse." Gradually a small hamlet sprung up on the main thoroughfare from Melbourne to Mount Macedon. "Bob" Fleming, one of the first colonists, who took to retailing meal for the sustenance of the Melbournians settled down there, and it was in compliment to this pioneer butcher, the dozen huts and shanties were dignified by the name of Flemington, a nomenclature subsequently extended to the racecourse. It was therefore determined by the Turf Club that the next meeting should come off there, and it did so accordingly, with Messrs. W. Gardiner, and J. Rowe as Clerks of the Course. At four o'clock on the evening of the entry day (the 12th April) all the competing horses were paraded on the eastern side of Batman's Hill, and there was a strong muster of Melbournians to behold the turn-out. On the opening morning and under favourable weather, people began to flock from all parts to the since well-known banks of the Saltwater River. There was a town band of three performers in attendance, mastered by Mr. G. B. Hailes, afterwards a prosperous timber merchant and J.P., who played on the bass viol. His services were retained for £20 by Mr. Thomas Halfpenny, the keeper of the principal booth, the William Tell, constructed of green bushes and canvas, and close by the Grand Stand a shaky concern of stringy bark and ti-tree.
The course is described "as an excellent piece of turf, selected with considerable judgment." The attendance on the first day was good, but as a drawback it is recorded that "for aristocracy, fashion, and beauty, the muster was scanty; and the fatal glances of the black eye and blue were
'Like angels' visits, few and far between.'"
First Day—Tuesday, 13th April.
Town Plate.—Entrance 10 sovs., with 50 sovs. added; heats; two miles and a distance; weights, from 8st. for three year-olds, up to 9st. 10lb. for six years and aged.
Six horses were entered, but only five started, and the result was:—
| Mr. M'Nall's g h Plenipo, aged, black and white stripes | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Mr. Carrington's b h Councillor, 4 yrs., black and red, black cap | 4 | 4 | dis. | |
| Mr. Watson's ch m Countess, 6 yrs., crimson and black | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Mr. Sherwin's g g Mustache, aged, blue | 5 | 5 | dis. | |
| Mr. A. Hunter's ch g Romeo, 5 yrs., crimson and green | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
There was no jockeyship, yet good racing. Plenipo, at starting five to one, took the lead, Countess and Romeo close up, and when within 100 yards of home, they passed him, had a very sharp run in, the lady beating the gentleman about his own length. In the second heat the same condition of things was repeated until near the close, when Romeo came to the front, with Plenipo a good second, but the two winners—the first and second heats—appeared much distressed. For the third heat Councillor and Mustache were drawn, and only the other three started. It was a spirited effort, in which the riders rendered but small service, Romeo winning by half a length. There were now three winners of a heat each, and what is very unusual, there was a fourth or conquering race to be decided. The three horses got off well, but the heavy day's work so told upon the Countess that her ladyship was obliged to strike her colours very soon. Plenipo got the lead, and several times struggled hard to bid "Romeo, Farewell;" but Romeo would not be shelved and was only conquered by a neck.
The Publicans' Purse.—Entrance, 6 sovs., with 50 sovs. added. Distance and weights same as before. There were only three starters, and both heats were won through good riding by Lamb's b h Clinker, 5 years, beating M'Nall's b g Woodman, and Hunter's b m Venus. The Maiden Plate, of 5 sovs. entrance, and 25 sovs. added, heats one mile and a distance, with same weights, was won (both heats) by Powlett's Matilda, beating Snodgrass's Baroness, Wright's Freedom, Sherwin's Viscount, and Reid's Diamond.
Though the monetary affairs of the province were in a most unsettled condition, several hundreds of pounds changed hands by the day's chances. The few policemen and special constables deputed to preserve order permitted much disorder, and drunken horsemen caused sad annoyance. One man was ridden down, and had his chest trampled in by an intoxicated, mounted scoundrel, who narrowly escaped lynching. There was a small party of the border police (an equestrian corps of ex-convicts) in attendance, and one of them getting mad drunk, drew his sword, and threatened to kill everybody. Though he did not keep his word, he acted in such a manner as to create a general panic, for he is reported to have "cloven one man through hat to skull, causing him to bleed freely, a second over the nose, dividing the cartilage, and a third over the shins making him dead lame." He was at length secured, and under the existing Convict Regulations flogged within an inch of his life the following day.
Second Day.—Wednesday, 14th April.
Ladies' Purse.—Entry 5 sovs., with 20 sovs. or more added. A three-mile race, gentlemen riders. Weights from 10st. 5lb. for 3 years to 12st. for 6 years and aged. This prize was borne off by M'Nall's Plenipo, from Powlett's Boliva and Hunter's Romeo.
Trial Stakes, for 2 and 3-year-olds, 4 sovs. entry, and 30 sovs. added. Heats, 1 mile and a distance. Weights: 2 years, 7st. 4lb; 3 years, 8st., with an allowance of 3lb. to mares and geldings. Five started, and the first heat was won easily by Ewart's Prince Albert. The second heat was won by Clarke's Tally-ho, with The Prince, who threw his rider, nowhere. In the interval before the third start, it was ascertained that the first winner was disqualified, and the stake was awarded to Tally-ho without any further trouble.
The Pony Stakes was for horses 14 hands high and under, with 2 sovs. entry, 20 sovs. added; heats, 2 miles and distance. Catch weights. Half-a-dozen started, and both events were easily pulled off by Watson's Medora.
The next was a Sweepstakes for beaten horses. Catch weights. 1 sov. entrance, 15 sovs. added. Heats, 1 mile and a distance. Post entry. It was won by M'Nall's Woodman, beating four indifferent competitors.
Third Day.—Thursday, 15th April.
The Turf Club Cup.—Steeplechase.—5 sovs. entrance added to 50 sovs., over 3 miles of country selected by the Stewards, with 9 leaps of 3 feet 3 inches, composed of three-railed fence, blocked with brushwood. Weights from 10st. for 3 years to 11st. 10lb., 6 years and aged. Horses to be the bona fide property of members of the Turf Club. Gentlemen riders. Three started, viz.:—
| Powlett's Conrad, ridden by Mr. Munday | Snodgrass's Tom Jones, ridden by Lieut. Vignolles. | |
| Arundel's Camden, ridden by Mr. Hunter |
The trio had a good start. The first jump was baulked by Conrad and Camden. Tom Jones had a regular burster at the second last fence, but without injury to horse or rider. He was soon on his legs, and came in an easy winner. Conrad got on fairly well, but all the combined powers of steel and whip unstintingly applied failed to carry him over the last leap.
The finale was a Hurdle Match between seven starters, and won by Highett's Una, with Tom Jones second. This stake was for all horses, 3 sovs. entry, and 20 sovs. added. Same distance and leaps as the Steeplechase. In 1842
The interest connected with the yearly race gathering increased much in attractiveness for the public. It commenced on the 1st March, an intensely hot day, for a thermometer on the course was up to 135, and the publicans made a great harvest. This year each booth-holder had to pay £10 for permission to erect his groggery on the course, and the average cost of putting up an establishment was £40. The Town Plate}} was won by Lamb's Plenipo, the Ladies' Purse}} by Hunter's Flying Shingler, and the Maiden Plate}} by Snodgrass's Baroness. The horses were, generally speaking, in the reverse of good condition. The day's amusements were varied by the occurrence of a curious case of police obstruction. At this time the police authorities had a rough-and-ready way of dealing with prisoners in custody, not only disregardful of anything like comfort, but frequently, of ordinary humanity. At race meetings it never occurred to them to erect a shed or pitch a tent on the course as a receptacle of persons arrested. A long strong chain stapled to a tree was the watch-house, to which the handcuffed culprits would be padlocked in all sorts of weather, wet or dry, baking or drenching, and here for hours unfortunates were exposed. There were present on the course a Mr. Oliver Gourlay, a fast "deil-may-care-ish" merchant of the period, and the Hon. James Erskine Murray, a Barrister, the most popularity-loving Scotchman in the province. Some half-a-dozen prisoners were on the chain, snarling, and incessantly yelling for water with not a a drop to drink. Some constables marched up an additional prisoner charged with shying an emptied runi bottle at some person, and he was so roughly handled by his captors that Gourlay and Murray cried out shame, and backed up by such encouragement, a few rowdies had some notion of not only effecting a rescue, but shivering the main chain, and emancipating the whole lot. In the midst of the turmoil, Dr. Martin, a Territorial Magistrate, resident at Heidelberg, rode by, and seeing that an outbreak was imminent unless a prompt blow was struck, ordered the arrest of Gourlay, who was forthwith violently dragged from his horse by District Chief-Constable Brodie, pinioned, and chained up with the rest. Murray vehemently remonstrated, and would have been hooked on too, but owed his escape to the fortunate combination of being the scion of a noble Scottish house and a member of the Port Phillip Bar. After an hour's parboiling, Gourlay was released on bail by Mr. William Verner, another J.P., and on appearing next morning at the Police Court, the alleged offender was committed for trial at the Criminal Sessions. Six weeks after this, Gourlay was one of five gentlemen volunteers who gallantly rode down and captured a band of bushrangers on the Plenty, and in consideration of the intrepidity so displayed, the Crown Prosecutor entered a nolle prosequi for the racecourse escapade.
The second and third days of the meet were much cooler and pleasanter in every way than the first, except that the racing was not so good. To maintain order a number of ticket-of-leave convicts were enrolled as special constables—a most injudicious step—which gave great public offence. Several times during the two days there was much danger of collisions between the free population and the hectoring blackguard squad of batoned bondsmen; but fortunately beyond some vehement shouting and threatening nothing serious occurred.
In 1843
The races were run on three consecutive days in March, and in the interest taken in them there was a perceptible annual increase. The Town Plate for 50 sovs. added to 10 sovs. entrance was won (both heats) by Fletcher's Romeo.
1844.
The 19th March was the first of the three days' races this year, and though a terrible financial crisis had purged the colony for the past two years, and times were hard enough, the monetary atmosphere was just brightening, and the settlers were in every disposition to enjoy themselves. The consequence was the largest influx of strangers ever known to Melbourne, and the (then) immense number of 5000 persons witnessed the sports of the morrow. It was very sultry, the atmosphere muggy, with occasional puffs of hot wind, but towards noon there was a crashing thunderstorm, with slight showers of rain throughout the afternoon.
The Town Plate was won by Mercer's Rob Roy, whilst Snodgrass's Billy-go-by-'em pocketed the The Trial Stakes, and Kilgour's Bolivar the Publicans' Purse.
The weather was much pleasanter on the second day, the attendance good, and the running ditto. The result of the three days' meeting showed that though there was room for much improvement in the training and get-up of horses, evidences of no little progress in this respect were manifest, which would gradually render the Port Phillip Turf Club Meetings all that they should be.
1845.
A special charge of £5 per booth as a police rate was levied upon the racecourse publicans, to remunerate special constables for the maintenance of good order, and as there were a score of booths, a sum of £100 was available for the purpose. The command of the course was placed under Mr. Charles Brodie. There was fine weather on the opening day (25th March) and a numerous turn-out of the public. This was the year when the famous stock-horse Petrel made his début, and carried all before him.
The Town Plate was for 40 sovs., added to 6 sovs. entrance. Heats; 2 miles and a distance; weights as for previous similar competitions, and the result was:—
| Campbell's Petrel | 1 | 1 | Purves' Banker | 4 | 4 | |||
| Collins' Smolensko | 2 | dis. | Lang's Hendric | |||||
| Dowing's Romeo | 3 | 2 |
Petrel was the favourite, and won the two heats without difficulty.
The Maiden Plate was won by Brown's Adela, beating 4 others; and the Publicans' Purse fell to Smolensko out of six applicants.
The Second Day was drenched with a drizzling rain, which soon cleared off, and there was a larger attendance than on the day before, and more enjoyment. The Saltwater River was studded with a flotilla of private boats unseen there previously, and unequalled since.
Smolensko won the Ladies' Purse, beating Romeo, Banker, and three others.
The Port Phillip Stakes fell to Crook's Gay Lad, and the Pony Stakes to Henderson's Pussy.
On the Third Day the Steeplechase was won by Bond's Flying Shingler. A Consolation and Hack Race concluded the meeting. The last day of the week witnessed a private match for £100 aside between Petrel and Smolensko (Tasmanian) 3 miles and a distance. The former won easily, and not less than £1000 was lost and gained on the event. The evening of the 28th was signalized by a grand Race Ball, but a heavy rain kept away a number of ladies who had intended to be present. There was a good band, better dancing, and an excellent supper. The attendance numbered 120, and the proportionate paucity of the fair sex was compensated for by the complacency of the ladies there, who are reported in a Melbourne newspaper "to have worked double tides to keep the gentlemen in partners;" and very ungallant and ungentlemanly was it to exact such a species of hard labour.
1846.
The Melbourne Meeting
Commenced on the 24th March, and wonderful expectations were entertained as to what Petrel would do. For some weeks previous it was reported that the V.D.L. champion, Paganini, was coming over from Hobart Town to show his tail to every horse in Port Phillip; but this all ended in smoke. Another Vandiemonian favourite, Paul Jones, was put forward with much consequence, and the loud and excited crowing of the partisans of the two horses was amusing. Each was heavily backed, and a big pot of money, for the time, changed pockets.
Town Plate.—Heats; 2 miles and a distance. 50 sovs. added to 7 sovs. entrance. Weight for age: 3 yrs., 8st.; 4 yrs., 8st. 10lb.; 5 yrs., 9st. 4lb.; 6 yrs. and aged, 9st. 10lb.
| C. Campbell's ch g Petrel, 4 yrs. | 2 | 1 | 1 | Quinan's bk m Maid of the Moat, 4 yrs. | 3 | |
| Carpenter's b h Paul Jones, 4 yrs. | 1 | 2 | 2 | Cowell's b h Quicksilver, aged | Broke down. |
Petrel, on stripping, seemed in good condition, though perhaps a little high, whilst Paul had evidently the better training, and was in almost perfect racing order.
In the first heat Petrel was ridden by a bush jock named Muff, and from the manner in which he spoiled his horse's chance he did not belie his name. Paul Jones was splendidly piloted by one Tom Cooke, and after a good start Paul and Petrel ran some distance nose and nose, after which Paul succeeded in obtaining a short lead, and kept it by little more than a length until the run home, when Petrel made a spirited neck and neck race in, and Paul won by a head. "The Muff" unmercifully flogged his animal. Time, 4 min. 11 sec. The result nearly sent the Van Diemonian portion of the attendance wild with joy. They ranted and roared, and jumped and swore, and one fellow in his delirium made for the river, in which he leaped, and was with some difficulty saved from drowning.
In the second heat "The Muff" was cashiered, and his seat on Petrel transferred to a pig-skinner known as "Sandy, the Butcher." Only the two horses came to the post, and during the 55 minutes that intervened since the first heat, the excitement and expectation that prevailed was up to white heat. The Port Phillipians were confident that Petrel would yet recover his lost laurels, and the Van Diemonians never questioned the possibility of Paul Jones adding to the honours he had taken. Still amongst the aspirations cherished in the minds of both parties, there was the acid of uncertainty. After a capital start was effected, Paul Jones shot ahead and kept the lead for nearly half-way, when Petrel freed from the incubus of "The Muff" handicap, and well-handled, went up passed the other, never lost ground, and amidst vociferous acclamation was landed a winner by four lengths. The Van Diemonians were now beside themselves, but with feelings of a different kind, and the betting, which between the heats was 10 to 3 on Paul, now veered round to 5 to 1 on Petrel.
In the third heat Paul Jones again led, but was speedily overhauled, and afterwards made no show. Petrel won easily by several lengths, hard held.
For the Maiden Plate five started, and there was a spirited neck and neck race between Rowan's Juliet and Collier's Figaro. These were both two-year-olds, and Juliet won by half-a-length. The distance was one mile, and it was done in what was considered good time, viz., 1 min. 56 sec.
The Publicans' Purse was won by Collins' Smolensko. The course was in good condition and well kept, the weather was agreeable, the people orderly, and it was pronounced to be the best day's racing enjoyed in Port Phillip.
On the Second Day the Ladies' Purse was carried off by Petrel, beating Smolensko and four more. Petrel led, and had it all his own way except for one short critical moment when the Smolensko-ites had reason to hope, but that was all. The Port Phillip Stakes were won by Austin's Bunyip, for whom greater triumphs were in store, and Kirk's Rough Robin was the conquering pony.
The Third Day was darkened by clouds of dust, and the sport much eclipsed in consequence, and the occasion was rendered notorious by acts of rascality, rarely, if ever, paralleled on the Melbourne Course. A Hurdle Race was run, and won by Borradaile's Wild Harry. Several horses started, and there were as many baulks and falls. Wild Harry was leading, and came down in taking a hurdle, when as Jane, the next animal, was passing, several persons rushing between the mare and the leap, prevented her going over. Mr. Dewing, the rider of Wild Harry, was lifted into the saddle, and, resuming the race, came in cantering. Jane followed, and her rider, Mr. Main, jun., objected to the help given to Dewing. As Dewing after the race was going from the weighing stand to the Stewards' enclosure, he was bludgeoned by a ruffian and for a few moments it was thought he was killed. He was lifted in a state of insensibility off the ground, carried on board a steamer, and conveyed to Melbourne. He remained in a precarious state for several days at the Pastoral Hotel in Queen Street. A reward of £100 was offered, and the murderous assailant, who was subsequently identified, received a sentence of twelve months' imprisonment. In after years an appreciative modern Government rewarded the political services rendered by this same individual by appointing him a J.P., and one of the dispensers of justice to Her Majesty's subjects.
This meeting was characterized by much violent rioting on the outskirts of the course. On one of the evenings Mr. Edward Argyle was quietly riding home from the day's fun, but fun of another kind lay in wait for him on the road. Three scoundrels waylaid and attempted to murder him. He rode for his life for two miles, pursued by the yelling savages, was at length overtaken, felled from his horse by a blow with a loaded whip-handle, and whilst on the ground was kicked and stoned to the very verge of death. His murder was prevented only by the galloping up of a Mr. Page, by whose intervention he was saved. A person named John Maher was afterwards arrested as one of the offenders, and tried at the Criminal Sessions. He was convicted of an assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and Judge A'Beckett sentenced him to transportation for life. He was sent away to Van Diemen's Land, and died there after a few years' penal servitude. This unfortunate person, though his guilt was undoubted, was said to be the pliant instrument through which another party, who took good care to abstain from any overt participation in the disgraceful outrage, wreaked vengeance for some personal enmity entertained towards Argyle.
Petrel.
There was no public man in the province now half such a favourite as the unknown bush-hack, who had become so famous that hero-worship, if such a sentiment existed, was for the time banished and horse-worship reigned in its stead. The name of Petrel was a household word. Everyone was asking who was Petrel; where he came from; who was his sire; his dam, and what was his pedigree? But poor Petrel had no place in a stud book. He was a species of foundling, picked up by chance, and columns were written about him in the newspapers—much of it pure gossiping invention. The following account of his antecedents is, I believe, substantially correct. A Sydney racer, known as Steeltrap, was supposed to be his sire, and there was a strong family resemblance between father and son. All that is known of Petrel's dam was that in 1841, a man journeying overland from Sydney to Adelaide stayed for a short time at the Grampians. He had in his possession two fine mares, supposed to have been stolen, and both in foal. The stranger found employment on the station of a Mr. Riley, where the mares foaled and one of the youngsters was Petrel. They remained there for a couple of years, and in 1843, when horseflesh was beginning to command something like a price, John Giveng, an overseer of Dr. Martin, bought both colts for £36. Petrel was then turned into a stock horse, there was much speed in him, and he exhibited as a sort of show animal before strangers. One day as several stockmen were out riding, an emu was sighted, a hunt extemporized, and Petrel not only distanced all the others, but ran the emu down. Petrel at this time was rising four years old, a dark chesnut, 16 hands 1 inch high, the head beautifully formed; but the build of the animal, though symmetrical, seemed as if too powerful for a racer in the hind quarters. This imparted a clumsy appearance, but the same indications have distinguished some of the fleetest English horses. Distance, whether long or short, or weight light or heavy, were matters of small moment to him. Mr. Colin Campbell soon heard of this rough diamond, and wishing to have him, the ownership was exchanged by Mr. Campbell swopping a mare worth £20. Petrel was then carefully looked after, put in condition, and his first race was on the 20th February, 1845, at the Pyrenees, where he won the three-year-old stakes. The same year for the Geelong Town Plate, one-and-half-miles, he was beaten by Sweetmeat. One writer declares Petrel to have been foaled between the 10th and 15th October, 1841, by a Steeltrap mare from either Operator or Theorem. Petrel was raffled on the evening of the 30th March, 1846, at the Royal Hotel, in Collins Street, when there were 40 members at £5 each, and the prize was drawn by Mr. J. C. Riddell, who in a few days after, had the horse put up to auction at Kirk's Bazaar in Bourke Street, when he was knocked down to Mr. Borradaile for 150 guineas. Subsequently he was despatched to Sydney to sweep the turf before him, but he was beaten by a celebrated New South Welsh horse-Jorrocks, and also by Blue Bonnet. The Sydney-ites went into raptures at the blowing being soon taken out of the Port Phillipians; but it could not be denied that Petrel had suffered much during a whole week's rough passage between Melbourne and Sydney, and that he was run too soon after his arrival.
More will be heard subsequently of Petrel's successes and reverses-for he experienced both. Suffice it here to state that after figuring in the race field until he was 14 years old, his then owner (Mr. James Austin) turned him loose, to live on grass for the rest of his life, and he so existed until he passed the quarter of a century.
Petrel and "the Polka."
Of all the unexpected events that could arise from the sudden appearance of a racing star in the sporting firmament, the most singular is that of Petrel being the medium through which the popular Polish dance of the "polka" should be first publicly introduced to the Terpsichorean votaries of Port Phillip. Yet so it was. The new owner of the horse (Mr. Riddell) took it into his head to finish up the race week of 1846 by giving, on the evening of the 31st March, a grand Petrel Ball in the Royal Hotel. It is recorded of it that 100 ladies and gentlemen participated in the festivities, that the "polka" was there "half-stepped" for the first time on Melbourne boards; and "at the end of the room were suspended over the fireplace, the saddle, bridle, spurs, whip, and colours used in Petrel's turf performances."
1847.
The meeting of this year was remarkable as the first time when race-goers in any number patronised what was then known as Picnic Hill. The Hill was so far away from the winning-post that, as a rule, sight-seers did not care much about it, but it was now slowly growing into favour. The 6th April was the appointed first day, and there was a good deal of interest shown in the meeting in consequence of the appearance of not only Petrel and Paul Jones, but of Bunyip, a horse of much promise, and Emerald, who had gathered some green bays in New South Wales.
Town Plate, 100 sovs., with 7 sovs. entrance. Weight for age, viz., 3 yrs., 8st.; 4 yrs., 8st. 10lb. ; 5 yrs., 9st. 5lb. ; 6 yrs. and aged, 9st. 10lb. Heats, 2 miles and distance.
| Austin's br g Bunyip, 4 yrs. | 1 | 1 | Wright's b h Paul Jones | 4 | 3 | |||
| Handford's b h Conrad, 4 yrs. | 2 | 2 | Chamber's c g Emerald | 5 | 4 | |||
| M. Gill's ch g Petrel, 5 yrs. | 3 | dis. |
First Heat.—Petrel and Bunyip went together from the post, when the latter soon led, and so continued to the end an easy winner. During portion of the race Emerald and Petrel were side by side, when there was a jostle, and Petrel's rider (Sandy "the Butcher") struck the other jock with his whip, and so caused Emerald to swerve outside a post. This had the effect of disqualifying Petrel's rider. Paul Jones behaved so indifferently as never to have had the ghost of a chance.
In the second heat Paul led, but soon retired from the front, which was taken and kept by Bunyip. Time—1st heat, 4 min. 14 sec.; 2nd, 4 min. 15 sec. The year before Petrel's time was 4 min. 11 sec. The Trial Stakes were taken by Bessy Bedlam, a brown filly from the Austin Stable, and Bunyip won the Publicans' Purse in a field of eight.
This day passed off in an unprecedentedly quiet manner, the judicial punishments of the previous year probably exercising a salutary effect in preserving the peace.
On the second day Bunyip beat Petrel and three others for the Ladies' Purse, and the meeting went over the third day, and was pronounced to be a great success. In addition to Bunyip, the Austins got up a minor sensation by displaying on the course a four-legged goose, hatched on the station of Mr. Josiah Austin. The quadruped marched about on all fours as naturally as if the extra pair constituted no deformity.
Bunyip,
The new idol, before whose prowess the short-lived renown of Petrel was doomed to pale, was got by the Duke of Argyle, a horse shipped from Sydney by the Hon. J. Erskine Murray, out of an imported Arab mare belonging to Mr. J. W. Shaw. She formed part of the stock of Messrs. Smyth and Prentice, squatters, and was purchased at a sale of Kirk and Harlin, well-known auctioneers. Bunyip, a yearling colt, was bought at the same sale for £7 10s. by Mr. Austin, and shortly after began to give indication of the stuff of which he was made. He was first run when a three-year-old, at Geelong, on 4th March, 1846, when he conquered Stevenson's Cornet. 'Three weeks after witnessed his début on the Melbourne course, where he secured the Port Phillip Stakes. His third appearance was at Colac, 4th February, 1847, where the Colac and Squatters' Purses fell to him; and turning westward, on the 16th of February he won the Town Plate and Ladies' Purse at Belfast. On the 10th March he pocketed the Geelong Town Plate, walked over for the Merchants' Purse, and the next day won the Publicans' Purse. Hitherto he had never been beaten, and was considered the champion of the turf.
1848.
Up to this period the Flemington Course was held under no stronger tenure than sufferance, and there was not even a line of writing to authorize its occupation. It was at length determined to apply to the Government for the issue of a ten years' lease to Messrs. W. F. Stawell, J. C. Riddell, and J. F. L. Foster, as Trustees for the public. The application was granted, and the Turf Club commenced the partial fencing of the course, and had a substantial Grand Stand erected.
The meet of this year came off on the 5th, 6th, and 7th April, and this was the first occasion of a publican venturing to put up a drinking-booth on the Hill. The enterprising individual was Mr. Timothy ("Tim") Lane, a well-known Boniface of certain largely-developed peculiarities, but one who had a special knack of making money. He kept the Builders' Arms, in Little Collins Street, and no man of his time was better known, or oftener laughed at. "Tim's" establishment was accordingly perched on the hill-top, and he drove a roaring trade there for the first day; but on the second a strong wind came roaring about him, and his tentage, barrels, pewters, bottles, grog and swipes were blown away as if they were a heap of egg-shells, and it was with much difficulty that the heterogeneous assortment was saved from destruction in the Saltwater River.
Petrel was the only favourite forthcoming, and his prestige had now waned whilst as to Bunyip, from whom so much was expected, he was not only now out of running, but it was averred that the best of his running days were over. The weather was as unpropitious as it could possibly be. Day No. I was a terror of wind and dust; No. 2 more boisterous, if a shade less dusty; and as to No. 3, barring the dust, it was a combination of wind and rain, with the meteorological embellishments of thunder and lightning superadded. These discouraging climatic conditions exercised a depressing influence, and everything was flat and tame and dull.
Petrel won the Town Plate, beating Garryowen, a much-admired horse, belonging to Mr. Rawdon Greene, and was ridden by a jockey named Holmes. He also took the Publicans' Purse, whilst the Austins, with Bessie Bedlam, appropriated the Port Phillip Stakes and the Ladies' Purse. On the last day there was a Hurdle Race once round the course, heats, which was also won by another Austin horse, well ridden by Mr. R. Greene.
1849.
The Geelong races were run on the 7th and 8th March, and the result of the first day was conveyed by overland express for the Herald, and arrived that night in time for next morning's issue of the paper. This was the first feat of the kind effected in the colony. The courier was a Mr. Patrick M'Grath, then a shipping reporter on the paper, who was afterwards a City Councillor for Gipps Ward. He had a miserable, toilsome ride of it, for neither roads nor weather were in the best condition. But he did it with two good horses, and though he was half drowned at the Saltwater River, where in the darkness he missed the punt, he swam his horse safely over, and reached the office about midnight.
The Melbourne Meet
Of this year was not well patronised, occasioned by a scarcity of money, a fall in the price of wool, and the frequency of races in the interior; but an evident improvement was remarked in the general turn-out of the people, and the number of vehicles which put in an appearance.
The Town Plate was the great event of the first day (27th March), and six horses came to the post, including Petrel, now owned by Mr. T. Austin, and Bessy Bedlam, owned by J. Austin. Mr. Lyall, one of the Stewards, officiated as starter, and, on the dropping of a flag, the horses got away, and Petrel and Bessy soon had it all to themselves, the mare, after an exciting run, winning by half a length. The three miles were done in 5 min. 56 sec. Lyall now proclaimed it to be no race, inasmuch as though there was a lowering of the flag, he did not say "off," and a majority of the Stewards concurring, though none of the owners of the horses offered any objection, it was decided the race should be run again. Petrel was withdrawn, and Bessy Bedlam also won the second heat, beating Harper's Orlando, Greene's Garryowen, and Mills' Little John. Lyall's mismanagement was severely animadverted on, and, though the day's programme was thus unexpectedly increased, no one denied that a bungling, though unintentional, injustice had been done.
In the All-Aged Stakes (heats) Petrel ran away from the rest, and was an easy winner.
On the next day prizes fell to both Petrel and Bessy, the former winning the Ladies' Purse, and the latter the Publicans'.
Some drunken scrimmages occurred, and a most cowardly and unprovoked assault was committed on Mr. John O'Shanassy, full particulars of which appear in the Chapter of Trials.
Petrel scored the Forced Handicap on the third day, and on squaring accounts had a balance on the right side of the ledger to the tune of a £50 note.
1850.
The course was now in part enclosed by a fence, and an entrance gate fixed close by the river. The meeting commenced on the 19th March, with a lack of interest through the disappearance of Petrel and Bunyip from the scene, without leaving any successor for the public favour, though Bessy Bedlam was in no want of admirers. The Town Plate was won by Bermingham's Merino, beating Bessy Bedlam and Crosbie's Waverley. Distance, 3 miles (heats). Time—1st, 5 min. 56 sec.; 2nd, 6 min. 4 sec. Merino was a very fine black gelding, broad-hipped and deep-chested, bred in 1845, for Mr. James Henty. The Paul Jones Cup was contested by four, and won by Mr. Dwyer's Ellen, but the Stewards allowed a protest, when it was ran again for on the second day, and won by Simpson's Maid of the Mist. The Trial Stakesterminated in a dead heat between Mr. Maine's b f Rachel and D. C. Simson's b f Maid of the Mist; the former by Romeo, and the other by Paul Jones. The others divided the spoil. The Ladies' Purse, 3 miles and a distance, was run in 6 min. 20 sec.—considered the fastest time for the length yet obtained. It was won by Merino over three others. The Steeplechase was taken by Mr. Chitty's Big Milk over one Sober Robin, and a very milky and sober affair it was. The winner was a clumsy, ugly brute, but his competitor had a drunken instead of a "sober" Robin on his back, who went very near landing brute and beast in the Saltwater River.
On the first day two men were killed—one run over by a gig, and the other ridden over. On the evening of the third day John Beech, a painter was drowned whilst returning to Melbourne in a steamer. Being drunk, he tumbled overboard the first fatal accident of the kind. Much of the success of several annual gatherings about the time was justly attributed to the business tact and activity of Mr. James Henderson, the Club Secretary.
1851.
The 4th March was the first day, and there was a vast improvement in the attendance and quality of the sport as compared with the preceding year. Three steamers plied between Melbourne and the course, and one (the "Maitland ") carried a thousand passengers.
The Town Plate was for 60 sovs., with 6 sovs. entrance. Four miles. Weights from 7st. 6lb. for 2 yrs. to 9st. 10lb. for 6 yrs. and aged.
| M'Laughlin's ch g Dauntless, 5 yrs. | 1 | Walker's bk g Blue Ruin | 3 | |
| Austin's bg Bunyip, aged | 2 |
Four others started. The race was a capital one, and the time 8 min. 16 sec. Dauntless won by two lengths, the riders whipping severely. The winner is chronicled as "being in good condition, as wiry as a rat-trap, and with the wind of a blacksmith's bellows." Bunyip's owner was much surprised at, for him, a most unexpected result.
The St. Leger was for 100 sovs., with 10 sovs. entry, for three-year-old colts and fillies. Weight, 8st. 10lb., 1½ miles. Six started, and the winner was Mr. Geo. Maine's bf Maid of the Mist. Time, 2 min. 52 sec., the fastest on the Melbourne course. Won "without turning a hair," and it was stated that at top speed it could be done in 3 sec. less.
The Romeo and figaro Purse, 5 sovs. entry added to 100 sovs., the gift of Messrs. D. C. and H. N. Simson, for two-year-old colts and fillies, the produce of Romeo and Figaro; the second horse to receive 25 sovs. out of the purse. Weight, 8st. 7lb. One mile and a distance.
| H. N. Simson's b c Flying Pieman | 1 | H. N. Simson's ch f Enchantress | 0 | |
| Jas. Austin's br f Enigma | 2 |
A neck-and-neck race between the two placed. When 200 yards from the start the saddle of Enchantress shifted, and the rider was rolled over.
The Publicans' Purse was won by Petrel.
On the Second Day the course was soaked with rain, and very heavy. The race of the day was the Stewards' Purse (heats) which fell to Petrel, beating Maid of the Mist, Dauntless, and others.
On the Third Day the Steeplechase was won by Henderson's b h Nimrod, beating half-a-dozen others, all of them aged, and each weighted at 11st. 11lb. There were 14 jumps, and several falls, but no one was much hurt.
The then Mayor of Melbourne (Mr. W. Nicholson) presented a 20 sovereign cup for beaten two and three-year-old colts and fillies, which was won by Rachel.
The meeting closed with an incident of a regretful character. Mr. Robert McNamara, a farmer, residing at the Moonee Ponds, was there throughout the meeting, and on the last evening, whilst returning from the course, was thrown from his horse, and so fatally injured that he died in a few days. His funeral was the largest attended known in Melbourne to that time. I cannot close this résumé of the Melbourne Race Meetings without a few words in memoriam of an old sporting official whose name was for many years synonymous with the Flemington Course, with which he became early associated, and continued until a few years ago, when he retired, and death severed his earthly connection soon after. This gentleman was Mr. Isaac Hinds, and "Old Ike" was one of the best known of the Old Identities. He was the first bank-teller in the colony, being appointed to that position in 1837, when Mr. W. F. A. Rucker opened an agency for the Derwent Bank in Melbourne. Mr. Hinds was afterwards a wool-broker, and took high rank in our early Colonial Freemasonry. But I speak of him as the weigher of the Flemington Course, a position which he held for a long time, and in which he was regarded as a trusted favourite by all brought into business relations with him. He was an enthusiastic sportsman in more senses than racing, and his name should not soon fade out of public memory.
A Retrospect.
Wide as the poles asunder are the Cup Carnival of to-day, and the Flemington Meet of forty years ago; and there were many features of the Sports of the good old times which one would like to see mingled with the present. There was a touch of romance surrounding the early gatherings which has completely died out, and would now be looked for in vain. Everyone then went to see the races, whilst now three-fourths of the people go either to try their luck in sweeps, or with bookmakers, show off on the Lawn, or to get baked on the Hill, feeling very little more interest in the running than an anxiety that the horse they backed should win. For about twenty years the winning-post was up by the river, and extending down from it, towards the Hill, between the course and the river, was a row of publicans' booths, where the refreshments, though not of the daintiest, had a full and plentifulness about them which amply satisfied stomachic longings. A railway was then undreamt of, and the two modes of egress and regress from and to Melbourne were the road and the river, both of which were always largely patronised. Steamers used to be laid on from the wharf to the course, leaving about eleven o'clock and returning at sunset. However they managed it, or wherever fished up, there was always a "nigger band" on board; if not the real article, undoubtedly an excellent blackphizzed imitation, and these whitey-black minstrels discoursed a discordance of "music" of the most "stunning" character. The steamers were invariably packed with passengers like herrings in a barrel, and, at 2s. 6d. per head each way, reaped a profitable harvest. What was known as a packet license was taken out by the master of each craft, which was supposed to authorize only the vending of grog in transitu, but this was a rule quietly ignored; for the moment the steamers were warped to gum trees rearward of the Grand Stand, they engaged in an active nobblerizing competition with the publicans ashore—a proceeding little relished by the landsmen. As the police and special constables on duty were not indisposed, for sufficient consideration, to connive at small breaches of the law in this way, the regular Boniface was obliged, resignedly, to grin and bear it. If there was amusement going down, it was nothing to the noisy and intoxicated babelment of the up trip, and the wonder was how half the passengers on board did not tumble overboard. Yet only on one occasion was there a death by drowning, and even a good dip rarely occurred in this way, whilst the risks and accidents by the overland route were numerous. The road journey out was always worth looking at. Carriages were then rarities, and even a four-in-hand drag seldom to be met with; but the Flemington Road, from Melbourne to the Saltwater River, was an irregularly-linked chain of vehicles of every grade, from the squatter's or town swell's tandem, rotating downward to the buggy, dog-cart, butcher's or baker's trap, and ending with the drays, where, in a promiscuous fashion, the mother of a family and a numerous brood of youngsters might be observed indulging in the open air enjoyment of a feather or chaff bed. The only engine of locomotion then available that I never saw on road duty of a race day, at least with a living passenger freight, was the bullock team. The vehicular branch of transit was, however, outdone by the equestrianism of the age, for every quill-driver, counter-jumper, tailor, or tinker who could raise a "few bob," chartered some kind of a screw (old or young, good or bad, was no difference, provided only it had four movable legs), at the livery stables or "bazaars," as they were styled, where there was any number of them collected from every point of the compass for hire; and thus Jack was as good as his master—for the time, at all events. The "croppers" along the road were innumerable. Still there were very few broken limbs, either because the nags were not in the humour for bucking, or the road was soft and yielding. This was also the period of pleasant and enjoyable picnics, and around by the bottom of the hill, embedded in thick brushwood, were scattered groups of people, of every age and condition, partaking of the contents of crammed hampers and baskets, and ready to hail every passer-by to "come and share pot luck." As a rule there used to be not only more eating in proportion to the attendance, but a great deal more drinking than now, and a drunken row was the inevitable wind-up after the racing was over. There were special constables to keep order on the course in the vicinity of the Stand and the run in; and a party of mounted police, and as many of the town and country constabulary as could be spared for the general supervision of the place. There was no such thing as a temporary lock-up for tipplers; but a readier, though less comfortable, mode of detention was devised, and this consisted of two or three bullock chains welded together and stapled to a tree, and to this, very unlike "Orient pearls at random strung," the apprehended Bacchanalians would be manacled by one wrist. Here the restrained toper might fret and fume as he liked, and the punishment often amounted to torture from the broiling heat of the sun or the pelting rain; but, wet or dry, it was all the same, for the chain remained a fixture until evening, when the prisoners were marched into town by the police, headed by the Chief-Constable, travestying the triumphal return of some Roman conqueror exulting over the living spolia he had secured in the wars. Some of the race rows occasionally terminated seriously for the belligerent powers, and often afforded an opportunity for squaring the score of an old feud or gratifying private revenge. A ruffianly system of way-laying on or off the course was once introduced; but some convictions following, the transportation of one would-be-murderer for life, and the imprisonment of two or three lesser culprits, put a stop to such a cowardly and brutal practice.
As for the racing itself, its quality improved by degrees, and the performances of such crack horses as Petrel, Bunyip, Bessy Bedlam, Merino, and others remained indelibly inscribed in the early sporting annals of Port Phillip. Up about the Stand, by the river bank, and on the Flat, the hum of busy life buzzed merrily about, and the adroitness of industrious rascality was not idle. The bookmaking craft had not yet come to the front, and, as there was little or nothing done in sweeps, the honourable occupation of the "welcher" had no scope. The pickpockets were, however, efficiently represented, and they took good care to make their hauls in the field; for though the return steamers might present ample opportunities for dishonest harvesting, the passengers, though full almost to overflowing in a certain sense, almost unfailingly left the course with very empty pockets. The broad-fakers, the magsmen, and the thimble-riggers affected the racecourse, and the unsuspecting were accordingly victimized without scruple.
It would be difficult to say when gambling on the Melbourne racecourse first made its appearance—probably with the first regular meeting there in 1840. This was before the era of the bookmaking and welching tribes, and the police of the period used to make spasmodic efforts to suppress any overt acts of "spielerism" and "thimble-rigging." They, however, neither scotched nor killed the snake, which lengthened its coils every year, and at the race gathering in 1847 it is averred that no less than seventy notorious gamblers were in professional attendance. As there was then no enclosed "Hill," and the winning-post was by the river side, the magsman and rogue operated on the Flat, where divers and sundry other "flats" of the kind specially wanted were willing victims for sacrifice. On the second day of the races a thimble-rigger was caught cheating in flagrante delicto, and it was proposed to rope and drown him in the Saltwater River; but the timely arrival of some special constables saved the scoundrel from a fate which he almost deserved. The following morning he got three months on a tread-mill, then in good working order at the gaol.
In the way of amusement, the first attempt at originality emanated from the brain of an eccentric blacksmith, known as "Old Cooper," who devised what he was pleased to denominate "an aerial machine," and it paid him well for two or three meets. This curious fabric was a wooden abortion, built something after the model of an unwheeled, hoodless perambulator, capacious enough to seat six persons. Four posts were sunk in the ground, and, by means of some cross-beams and a couple of stout ropes and pulleys, worked by two men, the passengers were lifted up and let down in a jig-jog way that gave unbounded satisfaction to the customers. The tariff was one half-penny per head per minute, or half-a-crown an hour; but ten minutes was considered a sufficient turn. Cooper always stood by officiating as engineer-in-chief, cashier, and time-keeper—and there, with an old silver turnip of a watch in hand, he performed his duties with the most undeviating punctuality. He did good business, and worked hard till after the last race, when he usually adjourned to the next drinking-booth, and left the aerial machine to look after itself until next morning. The jolly old fellow was a general favourite, and even the most mischief-loving scamp (there were none of our latter-day larrikins) would never think of injuring him or his belongings. It was not to be always "cakes and ale" with the veteran Vulcan, for a regular merry-go-round soon drove him out of the running, and he went completely to the dogs soon after. When the Benevolent Asylum was opened "Old Cooper" became its first inmate, and he gave up the ghost there more than twenty years ago. Though off races were occasionally held at Sandridge, near Elsternwick and Williamstown, and country meetings came to be established in different part of the province, the Melbourne gathering was the universally-accepted event of the year. The race nights. were noisy ones in town, and many a rough handling the "Bobbies" got; but if there was a cut head the roysterers were generous in supplying a sticking-plaster of more patent healing power than Apothecaries' liniments. Bank notes would pass to the police exchequer if the phlebotomist were watch-housed as a solatium for either wounded head or dignity, and the police office charge-sheets were every morning so light as to be inexplicable to those who were neither in nor knew of the secret agency operating as a peacemaker.
There was also nightly a Race-ball, a dinner or other festive demonstration at the Lamb Inn, the Prince of Wales, or some other principal place of entertainment, and, taken as a whole, the Old Turf times were infinitely more jolly and enjoyable, notwithstanding all their drawbacks, than people of the present generation can bring themselves to imagine.
The writer of this sketch was the first to suggest the changing of the Grand Stand and winning-post from near the river to the hill. He was engaged on a Melbourne journal, and, when the paragraph appeared, was laughed at and chaffed for giving expression to a notion so preposterous. But he was no idle dreamer, and he knew that it was only a question of time when he suggestion would be turned into a reality. He has often since stood on "the Hill," gazing across at the whereabouts of the Old Stand, and looking around and over the heads of the many thousands congregated on a Cup Day, his memory strays back to the olden times, when the circumstances above detailed occurred, and he wonders still at what the unfathomable womb of the dim future may have in store for the Flemington Racecourse. He stood on the hill on the first occasion of the winning-post being planted beside it. Who will be on "the Hill" or the day when the last race will be run there? As there will, some time or other, be a last man, so will there be assuredly a last race meeting at Flemington; but when that event will come off is a question to which there can now be no answer.
Venery.
Bonwick, in his Discovery and Settlement of Port Phillip, thus notices the earliest meet in the hunting field:—"The first hunt with hounds was on 28th August, 1839. There were fifteen red-coats, led on by 'Old Tom Brown.' A kangaroo was started; the chase was brilliant; the forester distanced the horses and dogs; and we have reason to believe, he regained his family home in safety." If the historian uses the term "red-coats" literally, as implying that the fifteen Nimrods were so costumed, I am disposed to question the accuracy of the statement, for it is extremely improbable that there was anything like fifteen fox-hunting uniforms then in the district. Furthermore, though this might have been the first mounted hunt "with hounds," it most assuredly was not the first kangaroo-hunting with dogs, for Fawkner's party, who had two kangaroo dogs with them, beguiled their Sundays in 1835 in such an anti-Sabbatarian pastime.
The first name that I have met with as the keeper of a pack of hounds was Mr. T. H. Pyke, in 1844, who afforded the sportsmen in and around Melbourne occasional runs in the country, about the Werribee and Keilor. No doubt from the earliest time the settlers scattered throughout the province would, now and then, take the field after a kangaroo or emu, though this five-footer of a bird was not easily overhauled, and found little difficulty in kicking over the best kangaroo dog that might come to too close quarters which was not often the case unless in ascending a range. Down hill the emu could extend its short wings, and make short work of the chase. The dingo, or wild dog, was much more suitable as an object of hunting, for the animal might be said to partake as much of the nature of the fox as the dog; in size, form, and habits it resembled Reynard, and afforded good sport to a pack of hounds. The dingo, therefore, was as a rule, hunted until other favourites of the English chase were introduced. It was not very long before such began to appear in the country. By the middle of 1845, Pyke had some foxes, and on the 30th August one of them was started at Penny Royal Creek, some capital sport ensuing. The fox after a smart run shaped in the direction of Williamstown, and en route an amusingly unaccountable metamorphosis occurred, for the huntsmen were in at the death—not of a fox, but an emu, and by what possibility the exchange was effected could not be explained. A newspaper of the time records that Mr. William Stawell rode a horse chartered from Mr. J. G. Taylor, who kept the Bakers' Arms Hotel in Elizabeth Street, nearly opposite the Post Office, and that the animal was accidentally killed during the run.
By the next year hunting had become more general. A club, known as the Corio Club, was in existence at Geelong, and it had as its huntsman a Mr. John Perks, who was much of a favourite. He resided in a hut on Willis's Cattle Station, at Indented Head, and one day in November, 1846, going some distance into the bush, and not returning so soon as expected, some friends started out in search, found him dying, and he immediately expired. It is supposed he had been sun-struck.
Messrs. Ferrers and Mercer also kept hounds, and hunted twice a week about Buninyong and the Leigh; and Mr. Bacchus, junr., showed off at the Werribee, where a Hunt Club was formed, when some fallow deer were imported to Geelong in June, 1849. On the 11th July, one of them, a poor little mite of a thing, was enlarged at the Little River, but in less than twenty minutes it was caught, and died shortly after. The next night there was a Hunt Ball at Geelong, attended by a hundred visitors. Mr. James Henderson, for years the Secretary of the Port Phillip Turf Club, was also the proprietor of a hunting pack, and in 1851 a stag was imported from Van Diemen's Land, On the 28th of September there was a grand turn-out of the Hendersonian hounds on Emerald Hill, and a field of fifty horsemen. The stag was let off, and after a two-mile spin towards Caulfield, then a houseless and unsettled region, the panting animal burst into a mia-mia of Aborigines, and frightened almost out of their senses, not only black men, women, and babies, but also the inevitable native camp following—a hungry horde of mangy dogs. The stag got off, making for what was then known as Big Brighton, where he was run down; but the dogs were whipped off, and the quarry saved for another day. Several of the equestrians were unwillingly treated to spills, but the most unfortunate of them was a once sporting physician, for a newspaper reports, "that Dr. Black had several falls in the commencement."