Visitors to Island Bay's Easter Camp 1884 are entertained by a sham battle.
F-44040-1/2 1884
Island Bay Easter camp 1884 with rows of white tents in the background
1884 Ref 1/2-044041-F natlib.govt.nz/records/22442557
688 review of 2nd Contingent at Island Bay HB2 18th January 1900
In the early 1880s a company took over about 60 acres and put in a great amount of work cutting back hill spurs and using the spoil to form the course and fill swamp parts. The course, when completed, was two chains under a mile.
Racing was started in the mid 1880s. All races were run with the rail on the left of the runners except in the steeples, which ran in the opposite direction. These steeple chasers went round the top to the eastern turn. Leaving the course, they climbed a bank and jumped a fence in Clyde Street (all streets were unformed). After crossing the south corner of the present school ground they climbed a steep rise with a fence jump just over the brow. Then they went down to the stream and water jump, over another fence into Mersey Street. From there they went through a bog, up a very rough rise, down into another bog, a turn into Elsey Street, and a fence jump on to the course proper to finish at the stand. During the running the jumpers were out of sight of the stand for about half a mile.
The totalisator was a mobile unit, box-shaped, about nine feet long and seven feet high, and could be loaded onto a dray or some such vehicle for transport. Bets were placed with a clerk over an open counter. Bookies were in force outside the enclosure with bags and blackboards, making a din calling the odds. Everything was wide open – the thimble and pea, the three-card trick and other shady money takers. Patrons arrived in cabs, gigs, and brakes, on horse or on foot.
The gate fees were collected across the road nearby today's Wakefield Park.
It is well-known that in the last two decades of the 19th century, southern Island Bay included a race course which encircled an area known as the Island Bay Park, but apart from the fact that it was a financial failure, little is known about the actual history of the course.
The following article is largely based on news items from Wellington's Evening Post in Papers Past, online at the National Library, and is a summary of a much longer account which is to be found in the Southern Bays Historical Society Collection.
This image is the best known of the race course itself, but there must be others! It was taken from the hill behind where the New World supermarket is now, possibly from what is now Aranoni Street, behind 127-131 Eden St. It shows the way spurs have been cut from the hills to form the straights, and the great extent of the course. The swampiness of the ground is apparent, despite the use of fill from the cuttings to raise it. The stream cuts across the upper left of the picture, and the grandstand is visible on the right.
The first item I found concerning the racecourse is an announcement on 25 September 1882 that persons interested in sport were invited to a meeting on 27 September at Mr W. G. Ryland's Post Office Hotel in Wellington City to arrange preliminaries for a Race Meeting at Island Bay in November that year. The meeting was called by Mr E. H. Goldsmith, Hon Sec, whose name would feature in items concerning Island Bay racecourse and races for some years to come. It was agreed a race meeting would be held on Saturday December 2nd, two days after the Hutt Spring Meeting of the Wellington Racing Club.
Subsequent reports note that a fine course had been prepared, Messrs. Hayes' and Jenkins' totalisator would be used, admission to the course was free, and boxes would be placed at convenient spots on the ground to receive subscriptions of those visiting who might wish to contribute toward the share of the expenses in getting the course in order. After the meeting we read that the weather was fine and the promoters seem to be well satisfied with the results. Thus racing appears to have begun in December 1882, on an improvised course.
The December 1882 meeting was obviously successful enough to encourage the thought of further races in the Bay. An interesting letter to the Editor dated 9/01/1883 from “Old Sport” discusses at great length why Island Bay is an obvious site for “the Racing Club”, presumably the Wellington Racing Club, which was currently using Hutt Park. He asserts that the Hutt is too far to go, too expensive and too difficult for most people to reach. Meanwhile a summer meeting was set to be held at Island Bay on February 3 with four races, despite the impending Hutt races. The Evening Post hails the success of the meeting, as close on 2000 people were present in fine weather. The recently built Island Bay Hotel proved popular with race patrons, and continued to feature from time to time in items concerning the racecourse.
Encouraged by this success, the Island Bay Park Company floated its prospectus in May 1883. The objects of the Company were to “acquire a site suitable for a racecourse and public park in the Island Bay township ... and to form a racecourse and public park with all necessary buildings and conveniences, and to let the same, or any portion thereof, from time to time, to such Racing Clubs and other persons as may be advisable.”
The land, about 50 acres, was leased from “Messrs. Joseph and Wright” whose names appear frequently as owners of early Island Bay land. The prospectus goes on to detail the shaping of the course “of a mile and two chains, with very easy curves”, and the provision of a suitable grandstand, paddocks, booths, etc. at a total expense of £3000. As well as horse racing, the Park could be used for Agricultural Shows, cricket and other sports. At this time the Park was a mile and a half from the current Newtown tram terminus and only half a mile from the town boundary, “and there is little doubt that, if the course is formed, the tram line would shortly be extended to Island Bay.” Unfortunately for the Park Company it was 22 years before the tram line was extended to the Bay in 1905, to service the inhabitants of new houses built where the Park used to be. Lack of public transport to Island Bay, Hutt Park and other courses is a recurring theme in the next decade.
The Park Company was duly formed, and according to a brief report dated 24th of September 1883 a number of gentlemen connected with the scheme to establish the racecourse at Island Bay visited the locality on a Saturday afternoon to inspect progress. Between 80 and 100 men were working on different contracts. Most obvious was the cutting down of the sides of surrounding hills (on today's Medway and Derwent Streets) so as to provide a sufficiently large oval running track. A large drain had been constructed (down today's Parade) and the spoil from the hillsides was being used for filling in and levelling purposes. In addition, a new road (today's Clyde St) was being formed on the east side of the course to replace that portion of the old road which was being included in the area required for the course. “An excellent site” had been selected for the grandstand (Derwent St, between Ribble and Moselle Streets) and it was anticipated tenders to build it would be called for during the current week. It was possible the track would be ready for a spring meeting but more likely it would open early February 1884 for a summer meeting.
So much for the building of the racecourse in the land leased by the Island Bay Park Company. Now who was going to organise the horse races?
In October of the same year, 1883, there was a move to form “the Wellington Jockey Club”. Stewards were authorised to make arrangements with the Island Bay Park Company for use of the course currently being formed, and, as the promotors of the Island Bay Park Company and the Wellington Jockey Club were to a great extent identical, this seemed unlikely to cause any problems. Mr Goldsmith by August 20 1884 is named as Secretary of the Wellington Jockey Club during negotiations with the Wellington Racing Club.
A news item dated 26 October 1883 deals with the first ordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the Island Bay Park Company. Those attending were given details of progress, an explanation of why the cost had risen from £3000 to £4657, and proposing the sale of additional shares to increase the company's capital. Problems had been experienced with the drainage needed to convert the present central swamp into valuable land, but the contracts had been let for the grandstand, fencing, sheds, stables, etc, and it was hoped a summer race meeting could be held.
However, no 1884 summer meeting was held that February, as bad weather delayed work on the course. A general item dated 17 January 1884 describes the visit of “several gentlemen connected with the undertaking for the purpose of inspecting the progress made ...” The drainage system comes in for praise, as “what was once a swampy piece of ground is now quite hard and dry”.
In April, the Easter weekend saw a large Military Encampment on the Island Bay racecourse. On Easter Saturday, April 12, a sports tournament was held including foot-racing, tug-of-war, three cavalry races and three open races under the supervision of the Island Bay Racing Club (sic). Monday saw a sham battle, watched by numerous spectators from the surrounding hills. This encampment is well known because several excellent photographs were taken. Another similar encampment was held in 1890 at Island Bay, and is equally well documented in the Evening Post, but is largely unknown because no photos are known to exist.
The first official race meeting for 1884 was the Wellington Jockey Club Winter Steeplechase meeting on July 12. The grandstand was not yet built and its lack caused some grumbling as the horses were out of view of spectators in the paddock all the time they were among the hills. Attendance was good, estimated at 1800 to 2000. There emerged in August the fact that the course had cost £5000 so far, with the grandstand still not built. But an advertisement dated November 1st invited tenders for painting the grandstand, fences, etc., and finally the Evening Post of Friday November 28 carried a glowing Editorial celebrating the fact that the Island Bay Park had at last been formally inaugurated with a very well patronised race meeting the previous day, and the whole project was a huge asset to Wellington. A subsequent report estimated the crowd at 6000. So just two years after the first race meeting on an improvised track in December 1882, the Island Bay Park and racecourse were in use!
This year appears to be the most successful for racing in the Bay. As mentioned above, the 1884 November meeting drew a crowd of over 6000, and at least 10,000 were anticipated to attend “Gold Cup Day” in February 1885. These attendance figures are remarkable, given that the population of Wellington City was just over 20,000 and the Hutt and nearby districts were under 5000. (The 1881 census figures give 20,563 inhabitants for the city, and 19 for Island Bay, 10 males and 9 females.) Racing brought prosperity to the Bay and by October 1885 the Island Bay Hotel Publican had completed a “new and extensive range of stabling at the Island Bay Hotel”.
Race meetings with a total of eight days racing are recorded as taking place during 1885 at Island Bay Park. They included:
New Year's Day: Tattersall's Club Meeting
February, Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th
May, Saturday 9th
September, Sunday 5th and Saturday 11th
October, 22nd and 31st
The Evening Post racing journalist Vigilant gives descriptions of the training of horses on the Island Bay Track, and also gives tips based on form. On September 12 he is pleased to report that the Island Bay meeting last Saturday was a financial success. “I look forward to seeing the beautiful course among the hills, 'by the side of the much sounding sea' - the scene of a series of well managed and pleasant reunions”. He also states that the work of making a plough gallop at Island Bay is shortly to be commenced, and on 10 October he reports that it is now in order and is greatly appreciated by the trainers. In the same article he notes that Mr A. Turner's new and extensive range of stabling at the Island Bay Hotel is now completed and the boxes are available for engagement by owners who have horses coming to the spring meeting.
However, 1885 also saw major administration changes in the groups running and using the Park.
On 23 February 1885 the Evening Post declares that it has received a copy of the Island Bay Park and Racing Company (Limited) prospectus. The object of the proposed company was to amalgamate the present Island Bay Park Company and the Wellington Jockey Club and form an influential association to carry out racing and other sporting meetings on the new course at Island Bay. The prospectus also pointed out that it might be necessary for the company to “take shares or otherwise subsidise a tramway to Island Bay.” Once again there is a strong hint that lack of public transport might be limiting the numbers attending.
On Monday March 30th a meeting of shareholders of the Island Bay Park Company agreed “that the Island Bay Park Company be wound up voluntarily” and resolved to call the new company the Island Bay Park Racing and Coursing Company (Limited). This company was duly registered on April 1. Subsequent news items make it clear that there were disputes over running the new company and in particular the appointment of its secretary. Mr Goldsmith had been Secretary of both Park and Jockey clubs, but his application for the position of secretary of the new company was unsuccessful, as by 24 October the secretary was Mr E. S. B. Bell.
At a meeting on Tuesday 21st April the Chairman said the old arrangement between the defunct Island Bay Park Company and the Wellington Jockey Club had proved unworkable. At a meeting on 9th May it appears that both Island Bay Park Company and Wellington Jockey Club were defunct, but on May 15 another meeting of the shareholders of the supposedly defunct Island Bay Park Company was held, to pass resolutions for the winding up the Island Bay Park Company and the transfer of its property to another body, as the meeting of March 30th was illegal.
Despite the negotiations detailed in these press releases, and the hints of unspecified manouevres and animosities, the race meetings this year appeared in general to be well run, popular and profitable.
Race meetings with 10 days of racing are recorded as taking place during 1886 at Island Bay Park:
January, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 (Wellington Anniversary Weekend)
April, Friday 9 and Saturday 10
May, Monday 24 (Queen's Birthday Weekend)
July, Friday 23 and Saturday 24 (Island Bay winter meeting)
September, Saturday 11 (spring meeting)
October, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 (regular spring meeting)
The first day's racing, on Friday 22, Wellington's Anniversary Day holiday, took place in fine weather with a fresh northwest wind blowing. The attendance was estimated at about 5500, and was honoured by the presence of Admiral Tryon and officers of HMS Nelson. Although the weather was fine and less windy, the second day was not as popular, with given attendance figures ranging from 1800 to 2500. Attendances diminished during the year and by October, when races took place on Friday 22 and Saturday 23, despite fine weather the attendance was poor. The second day attendance was estimated to be between 500 and 600 only ... “a fact which when taken into consideration with the splendid weather, goes to prove that racing in Wellington is being overdone” and the year's racing ended on this depressing note.
There are full Turf Notes by Vigilant dated 9 January. As well as discussing the horses, he comments on the track which has “become like adamant after the long spell of dry weather. To counteract this a top-dressing of rich black soil is being freely laid all round. The rain, when it does come, will wash this into the roots of the grass, and, if the going is made a little slower, it will at any rate be kinder to the horses' feet”. He also mentions the plough gallop which “within the last fortnight has been re-ploughed and harrowed, and is now in capital condition for training purposes”.
The accommodation for “owners, trainers, boys and horses” is then discussed at length. Mr Turner at Island Bay Hotel has 23 boxes, and Mr Cuttance's stables can accommodate “about half a dozen”. Five new boxes have recently been erected at the Island Bay Refreshment Rooms, and have been hired by a trainer by the name of Honor. Another three boxes “on the road this side of the refreshment rooms” will be available when Mr Honor vacates them and moves into his new boxes. Vigilant believes at least six horses will have to be provided for elsewhere, but is confident the Secretary, Mr Bell, will be ever ready to assist.
The Anniversary Weekend races had drama apart from the horses. An article from The Press dated 27 January 1886 relates how a gang of magamen (sic) and convicted thieves who had recently arrived from Sydney had been chased by the police first out of Auckland and subsequently Foxton after attending the races in that town. They reached Wellington on the morning of Saturday 23 and lost no time in proceeding straight to the Island Bay racecourse with the elaborate paraphernalia “required for carrying on systematic swindling on racecourses etc.” They had made about £50 at the “three card” trick before the police arrived, following a complaint from a man from whom they won £6 in as many minutes. Following warnings one departed for the Wairarapa and the remainder to “West Coast of the Middle Island by the first steamer”.
Racing was not the only sport the Island Bay Hotel used to swell its patronage. An advertisement dated April 6 publicises Pigeon Shooting in a Match open to all comers, to be fired at half-past 2 on Tuesday, 13th. Entries (£1) would be received by A. Turner at the Hotel or E.H.Goldsmith, Hunter Street. The Island Bay Park Company also used more than racing. A clipping dated 16 April, with the heading Football, deals with the annual meeting of the Rugby Union and mentions that the Secretary of the Island Bay Park Company wrote stating that a ground was being laid out for football at Island Bay. At the AGM (reported 24 September 1886) the construction of polo, coursing and cricket grounds is mentioned. The cricket ground was ready by summer (7 October 1886) but it is not clear if the polo and coursing grounds were ever completed, or even started.
An Evening Post article dated 7 October 1886 waxes lyrical about the charms of Island Bay. “Island Bay, during the approaching summer, bids fair to become a highly popular place of resort on Saturday afternoons and other holidays. The cricket ground laid down by the Island Bay Racing Club is rapidly getting into good playing condition and the Phoenix Club, which has already engaged a pitch, will play a number of their matches there this season. The Midland Club ... will also assist to make Saturday a lively day in this charming spot.
At the hotel Mr A. Turner, beside offering every accommodation to picnic parties, has spared no trouble in getting his bowling green and lawn tennis ground into first class condition, and both are now as smooth as a carpet, and suitable for first-class matches. Among other signs of progress, we notice that several new villas now dot the hills very prettily in different directions, notably those now being completed for Mr Chatfield, the architect, and Mr Staples. It is also said that the Island Bay Racing Company contemplate extending their cricket ground to an area of 14 acres … the Cricket Association would [lease it] … periodic athletic and military sports are spoken of … Mr Moody is preparing a bicycle track … Island Bay promises to become a great sporting rendezvous as well as an agreeable sea-side suburb.”
The Island Bay Park was not the only venue for sporting events at this time. A news item dated October 1885 declares that the latest caterer for the amusement of the public is Mr Moody (mentioned in the last paragraph), who has converted several acres of beautifully level grass land between the Island Bay Racecourse and the sea into a recreation ground, to be called “the Oval”. Provision will be made for cricket, athletic sports, quoits, romping games &c and the proprietor intends to do his best to make the ground a place of popular resort on holidays. “The Oval” was opened with a grand fete on November 9th 1885. Activities included dancing on the green, quoits, swings, cricket etc., as well as scheduled activities. “Five races for boys and girls were eagerly contested and the little winners carried their prizes in triumph to their papas and mammas.”
For men there was a one-mile handicap, a five-mile handicap and a 1000 yard steeplechase over six hurdles and three water jumps 14 foot wide. But the proprietor was not pleased as “the number of spectators who contented themselves with a view of the proceedings from the outside, without the preliminary of payment, was far too large to be satisfactory”. “The beautiful course among the hills” provided too many viewing places with a fine and free prospect. Alas, the Oval only lasted about 15 months and an advertisement dated January 15 1887 proclaims that the Oval, containing two acres and twenty perches is to be sold on January 28.
The directors' report for the Island Bay Racing and Coursing Club year ending 31 July 1886 appears in the September 7 Evening Post. It is a glowing report. “The race meetings ... have been most successful, both from a sporting and financial point of view, and the Club has made such great strides in advance that it now ranks very high in the list of clubs in the colony. The shareholders are, no doubt, aware that the “New Rules of Racing” were adopted by the Club on the 6th of May last, and under them the Club ranks as a metropolitan one ... the balance-sheet shows that the operations of the year have resulted in a profit of £269 15s 11d, and there is a surplus of assets over liabilities of £2640 3s 2d.
This report, however, did not prevent dissension in the Company, and an extraordinary meeting of the Island Bay Racing and Coursing Club was held on 23 September to transact business usually done at the July annual meeting, which had not been held. The Chairman explained that it was owing to an oversight that 1886 AGM had not been held in July, (which, considering the business expertise of the directors, seems somewhat implausible).
Mr Goldsmith appears to be leading the dissent, objecting among other things to the failure to hold the AGM at the correct time, to the adoption of the report and balance sheet, to the auditing of the balance sheet by one auditor only instead of two, to the directors electing themselves stewards, and to the failure to obtain an auctioneer to sell the horses after the two selling races at the last meeting. He was backed up by others but the account does not make clear the relative levels of support for each side. The balance sheet and report were finally adopted. The meeting obviously grew very heated at times, and at this distance in time it is not possible to tell if Mr Goldsmith and his supporters had genuine grievances or were merely determined to cause strife.
Race meetings recorded as taking place during 1887 at Island Bay Park included:
January, Saturday 22 and Monday 24 (Wellington Anniversary Weekend)
November, Saturday 20th
On Saturday 22 the weather was fine and hot and around 4000 were present. I can find no figures for Monday 24, but on January 29 Vigilant pronounced the whole meeting a success. The only other recorded meeting for the year was held in November, Saturday 20. It was hailed as a capital day's racing with an attendance of around 2000.
However, this year got off to a bad start for the Island Bay Park Racing and Coursing Club when the Wellington Racing Club assumed Metropolitan status and insisted on vetting the Island Bay Programme. Under protest the programme was duly submitted, as otherwise the horses taking part ran the risk of being disqualified from racing elsewhere in New Zealand.
The bad year continued for Island Bay with proposals to change the the totalisator clauses of the Gaming and Lotteries Act to give them greater credit among the lovers of racing. Vigilant outlines in a long, somewhat sanctimonious article on 26 March how the Island Bay Club was, like other joint stock racing companies, a profit-making concern, started simply to pocket for the benefit of shareholders the dividends out of the percentage deducted from the public investments in the totalisator.
If the proposed reforms become law then presumably companies like the Island Bay Racing Club will receive a smaller proportion of the totalisator takings or none at all, and consequently will fail. “It was started as a commercial speculation; in that respect it has not been a success.” Vigilant also mentions in passing that a time has been fixed for a meeting to consider a resolution to wind up the company.
On April 4 an extraordinary meeting of shareholders of the Island Bay Park Racing and Coursing Company was held, and the Chairman said there was a lack of support to form a new company and the only thing now was for the company to wind up and appoint liquidators and instruct them to sell the property. During the first three years a profit of £300 was made but since then there had been a loss. The company's liabilities were £3400, and the assets were £339. The Chairman's resolution was passed, and it was stated that present shareholders would be allowed to join the new company.
The Chairman's statement that there was a lack of support to form a new company seems a little odd in light of this last sentence, and in an advertisement on April 26 all shareholders in the Island Bay Park Racing and Coursing Company in liquidation are reminded that the share list for shares in the new company will be closed on Wednesday 27 instant. The notice is signed by E. S. B. Bell, secretary pro tem.
On September 17 Vigilant advises us that the Island Bay Racing Club is at length an accomplished fact, but it is not clear at this stage if it also controlled the Island Bay Park Estate, as its predecessor had done. However, by October 22 Mr G. Donne had been elected secretary of the new Island Bay Racing Club, and on November 4 the Secretary of the Island Bay Park Company, Mr W. M. McLean was ordering the removal of all horses running on the Company's property and grazing fees paid by November 12, 1887, which suggests there were two companies once again.
On November 25 the Island Bay course is pronounced to be in excellent condition and Vigilant announces his picks. A series of small advertisements in the same paper proclaims FREE ADMISSION, and the buses which will carry punters from town (Government Buildings) and Newtown (the tram terminus) are advertised. The attendance was still disappointing, around 2000, but the totalisators did good business and “a Capital day's racing was the general verdict”.
Trade and institutional picnics were an important part of life at this time, and it must be admitted that the club's racing was overshadowed by the glorious descriptions of the Milkmen's Picnic, held on Island Bay Racecourse on Tuesday December 20. Tickets for admission to the course were 1 shilling, which included free transport to and from the Newtown tram terminus. Vehicles assembled in front of Wellington Railway Station and prizes were given for the best-dressed (1) horse and rider, (2) horse in harness (3) turn-out horse and trap and (4) turn-out horse and float. About 20 vehicles and numerous equestrians then proceeded to Island Bay, where a full programme awaited them.
The 11 events included Milkmen's trap horse trotting race, two miles; Milkmen's foot race, carrying two full five-gallon cans; Milkboys’ foot race, carrying two full two-gallon cans; Married Milkmen's handicap foot race; Single Milkmen's handicap footrace; Milkmen's hack race; and Donkey race, last horse to win. No owner to ride own horse. The day was brilliantly fine, great fun was had by all and the day ended with a Ball and Promenade concert in the Princess Theatre, Tory Street, tickets single 2s, double 3s. Clearly the year ended on a high note for the milkmen, if not for the Racing Company.
Race meetings recorded as taking place during 1888 at Island Bay Park included:
January, Monday 23 and Thursday 26 (Wellington Anniversary Day and Centenary Day)
April, Saturday 7
December Tuesday 4 (Complimentary for the Secretary Mr Donne)
The attendance at the races of Monday 23, Wellington Anniversary Day holiday, was about 2000, but an account for 26 January states that although the concluding day's racing took place in favourable weather, the attendance was very poor, with not more than 500 being present when the first race started. Some found the patronage surprisingly good, considering the existing depression and present general tightness of money, but on April 7, despite the weather again coming to the party, not more than 600 were present.
In general, the year went very badly for the Island Bay Racing Club. On May 21 Vigilant is of the opinion that the New Zealand Parliament will this session act to alter the totalisator clauses of the Gaming and Lotteries Act. If the machine is abolished or its use restricted by limiting the issue of licences to use them, then the number of race meetings would be limited and “it is tolerably certain that the Island Bay Club could not carry on without the machine”. The benefactors then would be the Wellington Racing Club on the Hutt Course.
The company administering the land on which the racecourse was sited also appeared to have had its problems. On July 9 the first annual meeting of the new Island Bay Park Company was held. The balance sheet showed a deficit but this was inevitable as the company was meeting the debts of the old company. In answer to a question the Secretary said he had made a few enquiries about the project for taking a tramway out to Island Bay but there was nothing definite to lay before the meeting. The AGM then adjourned to September 11.
The stewards' report presented at the rival Wellington Racing Club's annual meeting on August 31 contains an item which effectively killed off the Island Bay Racing Club. With a view to lessening the number of race meetings in Wellington, the stewards had secured a lease for 12 months of the Island Bay Racecourse, which would be used for training purposes only, while Hutt Park courses would be used for race meetings. “As there is now only one racing Club in Wellington the stewards have reason to believe that a number of gentlemen who have for some time held aloof from the 'sport of kings' will again take an active interest in the welfare of the Wellington Racing Club”.
Not surprisingly the Island Bay Racing Club stewards were furious at having their course leased to their rival club. An explanation of the uncertainties and ambiguities which allowed it to happen is given on September 10, and although it is hard not to feel the racing club was hard done by, we do not have the Park Company's side of the story. Their resumed annual meeting on September 11 makes it clear that they were in financial difficulties but makes no reference to the deal with the Wellington Racing Club. In the event the Wellington Racing Club graciously allowed the Island Bay Racing Club to hold a complimentary meeting on December 4 for its Secretary, Mr Donne, as mentioned above.
I have been unable to discover any further references to the Island Bay Racing Club, and can only assume it quietly died some time this year, though a memo from the Survey and Lands Department claims it did not go into receivership until 4 June, 1891. Island Bay Park and the various stables were, however, used during the year by horses training for the Wellington Racing Club Meetings, and reports regularly appear on the condition and performance of the animals.
The Bakers' picnic was held at Island Bay in February, and on 25 May we are told that the picnic of the D battery of Artillery at Island Bay yesterday was very successful. “The weather was beautiful and a very pleasant outing was spent.” After taking part in a review at Thorndon the battery marched out to the Bay and engaged in a series of contests, returning to town around 6pm.
The Wellington Racing Club held its annual meeting on September 13, and the report on the meeting contains two items of interest. The stewards had been contemplating the erection of a new grandstand at Hutt Park for some time past, and plans were prepared at their request by Mr. W. Chatfield, architect, whom we know as owner of 'Hurston’, 1 Mersey Street, Island Bay. The lease of the Island Bay Racecourse, which was £150 pa, had expired the previous month and the outgoing stewards had no intention of renewing it. The Island Bay Park was therefore free for leasing to other groups, but this was too late to save the Island Bay Racing Club.
A newspaper item dated January 7, 1890, announces that a new racing club has sprung into existence in Wellington within the last few days, namely, the Island Bay Hack Racing Club. A programme drawn up by the club of a Jubilee meeting to be held on the Island Bay course on Saturday January 25 was submitted at a special meeting of the Wellington Racing Club the previous night and approved. The review of the Meeting dated January 27 is somewhat lukewarm about the quality of the horses, the meagre amount of prize money and the poor management of the meeting by the stewards. Around 400 attended, and eight races were run.
I can find no further accounts of race meetings held at Island Bay this year, or any reference to the fate of the Hack Club. There is little else to comment on for this year, except that there were still plenty of other race meetings of varying kinds held elsewhere, and a reference to a racehorse by the name of St Malo being stabled at Island Bay shows that at least some of the stables there were still being used.
The year 1891 has virtually no references to Island Bay, but has plenty to other racing clubs. The Island Bay Hotel must have suffered in patronage as a result, but encouraged other activities. An advertisement for June 11 this year has the heading United Hunt, and the message that the hounds will meet at the Island Bay Hotel on Saturday afternoon, at 3 sharp. Sporting News dated June 29 refers to horses in charge of Mr T. H. Hill at Island Bay all being in excellent health, but also comments that his lease of the Island Bay Racecourse has expired and will not be used for training purposes by Mr Hill after next week.
The Island Bay racecourse was resurrected this year by the Wellington Trotting Club, but its use was brief. On March 29 the Club proposed holding its inaugural meeting in May at Island Bay with six events. By May 6 tenders were about to be called for effecting a few slight improvements to the track, which could be put in order without any great expenditure. An advertisement on May 13 requests tenders for renovating Grandstand, repairing Gates, Fences [etc.]on the Island Bay Racecourse.
On May 23 Sporting Notes looks forward to a good day's amusement, as admission to the ground was to be free, and trotting races were somewhat of a novelty. The report on May 25 states the weather was fine but very cold, and some 2000 persons attended. For October 28, six events were promised, and “being favoured with beautiful weather the ... meeting passed off very satisfactorily yesterday, in the presence of about 1500 spectators ... the arrangements in the connection with the gathering gave every satisfaction”. The proprietor of the Island Bay Hotel did the catering.
The last recorded race meeting at Island Bay was January 24, with six trotting events being run. The weather was fine and one report gives the figure of 500 attending. The Wellington Trotting Club's winter meeting on May 24 took place on the Club's new racecourse at Miramar Park, and I have found no stated reason for the move from Island Bay. It is likely that for 10 years the course was used for grazing, and training and reviewing troops for the South African War (1900). By 1903 it is the Racecourse Reserve and 253 sections are offered for sale. A further sale of racecourse sections took place in 1904, the tramway finally went though in 1905, and by the time S. C. Smith created his photographic panoramas in 1909 and 1912 the Island Bay racecourse was only a memory.
By the turn of the century the racecourse is no longer in use as a racecourse but remains useful for military drills. Evidence of the work to construct it is still apparent in the scarred hillside behind what is now Derwent Street. Recent (2016) construction work has revealed evidence of the fill from the cut-back spurs used to level and raise the swampy ground.
Why did the various Island Bay Racing Cubs fail? And why did the Wellington Racing Club succeed? A number of factors may have contributed.
The 1880s were a time of economic depression when most men had little spare money. The well-off were insufficient in numbers to keep racing financially viable.
The racecourse was too far from town. There was no cheap public transport, and private transport was expensive.
The two Wellington Clubs meant too many race meetings for regular good attendances.
The Island Bay course had drawbacks. Its original swampy nature meant rain easily turned it into mud, and fine weather made it too hard, hence the ploughed gallop training course.
The surrounding hills provided too many free viewing places.
There were disagreements and much ill-feeling in the Island Bay Clubs from which we are too remote to pass judgment.
The Island Bay Clubs were business ventures, intended to make profits for the shareholders. Racing was regarded as a gentleman's sport and the Wellington Racing Club members regarded themselves as being of a superior social class, fostering the ‘sport of kings’ for its own sake, with profits returned to the club.
The Wellington Racing club won two major victories over the Island Bay Club. Somehow it wrested the title of Metropolitan Club from Island Bay, meaning all other regional meetings had to have their programmes vetted by the Wellington Club, and somehow it leased the Island Bay Club's ground for its own training purposes, leaving the Island Bay Club bereft.
1882 First race meeting December
1883 Second meeting February
First Island Bay Park Company May
First Wellington Jockey Club October
Course being constructed, no races
1884 Military Encampment April (Easter)
Steeplechase July - no grandstand yet
Park, course and grandstand completed – grand opening November
1885 Prosperous eight days racing
Both Island Bay Park Company & Wellington Jockey Club wound up
Island Bay Park Racing and Coursing Company registered April 1
1886 Prosperous 10 days racing
1887 Only three days racing
Wellington Racing Club takes Metropolitan Status
Changes to totalisator licensing legislation
Island Bay Park Racing and Coursing Company wound up April
New Island Bay Racing Club in existence by September
New Island Bay Park Company in existence by November
1888 Race meetings January, April and December
Wellington Racing Club Leases Island Bay racetrack for one year for training only, August
Island Bay Racing Club ceases to exist – not clear when
1889 No races recorded at Island Bay
1890 Island Bay Hack Racing Club holds only one meeting, in January
Easter Military Encampment on Park grounds
1891 No races recorded at Island Bay
1892-3 Wellington Trotting Club has two meetings in 1892, one in 1893, then shifts to Miramar in May.
The New Zealand 2nd contingent for South Africa at the Island Bay Racecourse 1900, with Island Bay School in background
Harkness Collection 18 January 1900The Island Bay race course covered the area from Medway Street to Humber Street in the 1880's and included what is now Clyde Street, The Parade and Derwent Street
1880 Burton Bros Collection F-3899-1/2This old postcard, c1910, shows Island Bay School, in the foreground, the rear of the shopping village and the large scar left by quarrying where the supermarket is now. It’s thought that blasting this material, and that from other spurs jutting into the valley made fill to level the race course.
And closer still by 1900 the grandstand appears to be in a state of disrepair. Evidence of the swampiness of the land, even after the racecourse was made can be seen in the vegetation. Later this area would be subject to periodic floods until the problem was finally resolved in the 1900's
From the editor's memory
Over 4,000 persons travelled on the tramcars Wednesday. That may give an indication of the number of people on the Island racecourse.
New Zealand Mail, Issue 675, 6 February 1885, Page 12The Most Progressive Portion of Greater Wellington. An Extraordinary opportunity for investment or speculation.
Messrs Thomson and Brown are favoured with instructions from John Odlin and Co. (Ltd.) to sell by public auction at their rooms, Hunter Street,
On Wednesday Evening,
13th December, 1905, At 7.30 p.m. sharp
60 SIXTY 60
Valuable Business and Healthy Residential Sites, situated on the Island Bay Racecourse, and having frontages to all the Main Streets.
These desirable Sections now offered for sale require no puff; personal inspection is all that is required to prove that they offer many advantages for building purposes; whilst the unusually liberal terms, placing a level section of land so close to the centre of the town within the reach of all classes of the community, must command the attention and commend this desirable suburb to anyone who wishes a home away from the crowded city and yet only a few minutes' ride from his daily occupation.
Island Bay will carry an enormous population. Business openings will present themselves to every class of trade, whilst professional men will find a new field of a profitable character for their business acumen and energy.
The extension of the Electric Tramway to Island Bay is completed. The tram now runs right through the block, and will be a certain factor in adding to the value, either for business, residence, or investment of capital, of such a healthy and invigorating suburb.
Remember, all the streets are 66ft wide, and the main Parade where the Electric Tram passes through is 80ft. Anyone having a few pounds to spare should not hesitate in investing in land in this much-favoured suburb. Great as has been the advance in values during past years, freehold properties in this vicinity have a tremendous prospective value attached to them. Already £12 per foot has been paid for sections facing the Parade, and this price does not come within the range of prices that will be paid in the near future for land in Island Bay.
Island Bay will be the "Brighton" of New Zealand.
The question is not "Will land advance in this suburb?" but "How much will it advance?" It is a self; evident fact that all these Island Bay Sections will prove gilt-edged investments.
ISLAND BAY will have a settled and high-class residential population in a very short space of time, such as has no parallel in any new suburb in the colony. The enormous increase in values which will take place as the result of the building operations and settlement requires no comment. It speaks at once to every clear-minded man and woman.
ISLAND BAY is the greatest as well as the nearest and most convenient of access of all the suburbs of the capital of the colony. ISLAND BAY is connected with electric light and gas from the City of Wellington, so that every comfort and convenience is enjoyed by its residents. Island Bay therefore, in many of those respects which add so much to life's pleasures, stands out far and away in front of any other suburb. With the new loan now sanctioned for the water supply from Wainui-o-mata, the lighting, water, and drainage arrangements will be perfect.
REMEMBER THESE GREAT POINTS: THAT THESE SECTIONS are perfectly level and dry, and are the pick of the Racecourse.
THAT THE TRAM NOW/RUNS through the property.
THAT THE CITY OF WELLINGTON is the Largest and Most Important City in the Colony.
THAT ISLAND BAY WILL BE its chief and most valuable suburb.
THAT EVERY MAN with the least spark of common sense should try to own a home.
THAT THE POSSESSION of a freehold will add to his self-respect, to his importance in the eyes of his fellows, and to his personal advantage in a hundred ways. Therefore buy a Section at Island Bay on WEDNESDAY, 13th DECEMBER 1905.
To those wishing to build, the Vendor will supply the whole of the building timber at the lowest current market rate on the following special terms: - 10 per cent, deposit, balance on mortgage for 3 or 5 years; or the Vendor will build to suit purchasers on 10 percent, deposit, balance by monthly instalments.
For plans and further particulars apply John - Odlin Co. (Ltd) care of O. and A. Odlin, Timber Merchants, Jervois Quay, or the Auctioneers.
Source Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 137, 7 December 1905, Page 8Some pages from a recently-discovered Official Programme for the Island Bay races, 1886. There’s a big story on the history of the race track in Southern Bays Issue 12 and an even larger account in our collection thanks to the diligent work of Marion Findlay.
The racetrack operated in the last years of the 1800s and ran approximately along Derwent, Medway, The Parade and Humber Streets. A steeple course ran East along Humber to Melbourne Road. The grand stand and totalizer were on the West side of Derwent, towards Humber Street.
The Island Bay Hotel, recently demolished in Trent Street, was a major beneficiary of the races but survived their end as a day-trip destination only to become unprofitable when the area went ‘dry’ and the sale of alcohol was not longer allowed.
A full copy of this publication is available in the Society’s collection