Wilberforce Races

The Bushell book refers on page 97 to a race track down on the flats of Bushell's Lagoon, thought to have been located on land owned by Paul Bushell. After spending a few more days with my research hat on, I'm pleased to confirm that this was a true story.

The Wilberforce Races began in 1843 at an unspecified spot. The track in 1847 'without hesitation is the best we have ever seen' and was definitely 'situated in the centre of Mr. P. Bushell's run - as level as a bowling green, and divested of everything in shape of a tree or stump'. The 'surpassing beauty of the course' was not equalled by any other in the colony. The oval course, about a mile in extent, ran various races including some two-mile events (ahead of the introduction of that distance for the first Melbourne Cup in 1861), and even boasted a grand stand by 1849.

The Bushell boys played an active part in the races, especially George Bushell and his half-brother William Brown (a.k.a. W. Bushell), and later their brother Alfred Bushell, but possibly they decided that generating income from farming their land took priority, because the race track was moved after Paul's death in 1853. The new venue for a 3-day event in 1855 was a large paddock belonging to Richard Cobcroft, ‘which, although not of the best description, being studded to some extent with stumps and trees, nevertheless, answered the purpose remarkably well’.

Much later, in March 1882, the races were held at an unspecified place on the Wilberforce Common. The press makes no mention of the Wilberforce Races after July 1896.

My short article on the history of the Wilberforce Races appears in the Hawkesbury Crier of December, 2011.