Victoria Park Racecourse, Sydney

:"For the park in Camperdown, Sydney, see Victoria Park, Sydney"Victoria Park Racecourse was a racecourse in Zetland, an inner-city suburb, south of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was bordered by O’Dea Avenue, South Dowling Street, Epsom Road and Joynton Avenue.

The site was originally a lagoon and swamp which was drained in the early 1900s to create the racecourse. [Weirick, J. [http://www.architectureaustralia.com/aa/aaissue.php?article=12&issueid=200401&typeon=2 Watering Sydney] . Architecture Australia, accessed 13 January, 2008.] The racecourse was privately owned and developed by Sir James John Joynton Smith (1858 - 1943), a hotelier, racecourse and newspaper owner. [ [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110670b.htm Smith, Sir James John Joynton (1858 - 1943)] Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition. Accessed 13 January, 2008.] It was said at the time to be the grandest and finest of the pony horseracing courses in Sydney. After World War 2, the racecourse closed and was bought by the British Motor Corporation for a car plant. In 1975, Leyland Australia closed the car plant [ [http://www.vicpark.com.au/ History] , Victoria Park, Landcom. Accessed 13 January, 2008.] and the site was acquired by the Commonwealth of Australia for a Naval Stores depot which operated until the mid 1990s. The site is currently undergoing redevelopment into high density housing. A three-storey totalisator building remains on the site, used as a site office by the redevelopers and now part of the complex. [Peake, W. [http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/uploads/approved/adt-NUWS20050817.163106/public/01Front.pdf Unregistered Proprietary Horseracing in Sydney, 1888-1942] University of Western Sydney, December 2004.] The racecourse is also remembered in "Tote Park" a small park on the site.

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