History in plain sight

We walk the length of the lawn past its rose gardens – and there is history here – towards the public Lawn Stand. Another statue, human this time. We can take a selfie with a life-size Bart Cummings! The champion trainer stands near the entrance to the glass-fronted undercroft to the stand. This precinct is now ‘Saintly Place’, named after the Bart’s former racing stables off-course, at nearby Leonard Crescent. Saintly, the 1996 Cup winner, was a horse of Bart’s own breeding.  

In the Lawn Stand’s Saintly Place we find a permanent display of the trophies accumulated by Bart. Among the treasures are twelve golden trainer trophies for each of his Melbourne Cups.

Up the escalator to the public concourse of the Hill Stand. Here on the huge sloping ceilings are the seven panels of Harold Freedman’s ‘History of Racing’ mural. These were painted during the 1980s and depict hundreds of historic moments, horses, places and individuals, in close detail. The focus is on Australia’s racing history since the first horses came to this continent in 1788. Flemington and the Melbourne Cup are central themes, through to the win of Empire Rose in 1988.

We take the pathway back down the Hill towards a truly historic part of the course, The Elms. Here we find further evidence of Byron Moore’s enterprise, in the form of solid bluestone retaining walls against The Hill.  

The elaborate iron gates at the entrance to the Hill Reserve are barely two decades old, but the bluestone walls that define the racecourse boundary, and which extend down Fisher Parade towards the Maribyrnong River, have been standing for 140 years. The incoming Secretary (CEO) of that era, Henry Byron Moore, made sure that the VRC bought freehold land at the back of the crown land racecourse reserve, to allow extra room for Melbourne Cup Day crowds. He was a man of foresight. 

Forty years later in 1924, when Byron Moore was still VRC Secretary, Flemington underwent another transformation, with a new mounting yard, new Birdcage, new grandstand for Members (on the site of today’s Club Grandstand), and a vast open-air betting ring at the rear to accommodate dozens of licensed bookmakers. The so-called Scratchings Tower remains here from that era. This double-storey timber structure was a kind of scoreboard. Up-to-date information was displayed here: winning numbers from the previous race, official numbers of horses scratched from forthcoming events, names of jockeys engaged in the next.  

Seven years later, Flemington’s first electric totalisator buildings were built around the perimeter of the betting ring. They have gone now, but the building at the north-eastern end – much modified – has served in turn as a second Scratchings Tower, a tote building and the racecourse manager’s office. Today it houses a heritage collection and the raceday merchandise shop.  

Beyond the racecourse enclosure, there are more traces of Flemington history we could explore, for this is a vast open space with its training tracks and on-course stables. We could take a look at Chicquita Lodge or see if we could find the Distressed Jockeys’ Lodge. Stories for another expedition, on another day.