About Us

“The Ballina Racecourse was built on very low lying land.  When the canal was dug in the 1890’s, big piles of sand were placed along each side.  When the decision was made to construct a racecourse, much of this sand was used to form the track.  All of the buildings were located on the northern side of the track, because it was the only high ground in the area. Some of the area was mangrove swamp and had to be filled.  A track had to be constructed across the track from north to south.  All filling was done with horse and drays which carried only one yard of filling at a time. The Buildings consisted of Wooden Grand Stand, Pelicans Booth, stables for about twenty horses, pan type toilets and judges box. Stables were used only on race days.  There were no resident trainers in the area. The horses had only a wooden piece of timber to keep them in. There was no cover over the betting ring and Bookies’ umbrellas were not invented in those days.  There was a small refreshment bar where you ate your sandwiches standing up.  As there was no wireless in those days, there was no betting on Sydney or Brisbane races.  All betting was done on local races. There was no telephone or electricity at the course. As there was no photo finish camera, there were many disputed decisions, but the judge’s decision was final. Often, it was alleged that the horse that was declared the winner was really well back in the field. In the early thirties, it was decided to remove the course buildings to the southern side of the course to obviate the necessity of crossing the track in two places and cutting the track with the wheels of vehicles. Before this could be done, about one acre of mangrove swamp to be filled to accommodate these buildings. This was done in the same way using horses and drays and using soil from the banks of the canal. A local contractor, Joe Harris, had the contract to fill the area.  All filling had to be loaded and spread with shovels, because there were no trucks or end loaders in those times. Tenders were called in two sections. Bill and Athol Purdie, Fred Rankin and Joe Barlow (Senior) and Bert Barlow were successful tenderers for part of the work. The Architect was Mr F.J. Board. To do all this work, the Jockey Club had to borrow a considerable amount of money and many prominent people responded. It was only shortly after the work was completed that the depression came on and racing went into the doldrums. The Club went further into debt and racing almost ceased. There seemed that there was no way out of the financial mess until the buildings, which were well insured, caught fire and were totally destroyed. The insurance money was sufficient to clear the debt at the ban.”