Doomben Racecourse

Doomben Racecourse is located in the middle of four roads, these being; Raceview Ave (to the North), Hampden St (to the South), Southern Cross Way (to the east), and Nudgee Rd (to the West), with the entrance to the venue being located on Hampden Street.^[1] Positioned in the North-East corner of Brisbane's suburb of Ascot, this race course sits adjacent to another Race course called Eagle Farm. The two courses lie within a half a kilometre of each other and are separated by Nudgee Road with Doomben to its East and Eagle Farm to its West.^[2] Due to previous competition between the two Racecourses, Nudgee Road has often been referred to as the "Gaza Strip", to symbolise the historical rivalry between the two venues.^[3]

Transport to and from the course can be found in the form of trains, busses, taxis as well as the ability to drive yourself. Via the train, Doomben racecourse can be accessed from the Doomben Railway station, which is part of the Pinkenba line and lies only a 5-minute walk (Approximately 400m) from the course's entrance.^[2] Busses can be used to reach the venue on the 301 route, which runs from Adelaide St in the city to numerous stops surrounding the course. The two stops which are located closest to the main entry and members' entry at gate 4 include stops 29 (Hampden St at St Ledger) and 30 (Hampden St at Hopetoun Street).^[4] Taxi transportation can be found on Hampton Street out front of gate 4 from the specified taxi rank. If attendants are driving to the venue themselves, public parking can be located using gates 1 and 2 along Nudgee Rd which leads to the infield carpark. Members parking, however, can be found using gate 5 on Hampden Street along with disabled parking availability.^[1]

The Doomben race track completed its last major reconstruction in December 1996 at a total budget of $3.3 million. With design inputs from Robert Bird and his partners, Basic Construction were able to perform these major works on the course, which included additions such as new irrigation systems, steward towers and rails as well as the replacement of the track turf and soil around the course.^[5] Due to these modifications to the venue, Doomben's course dimensions as of 2021 include a 27-metre wide racetrack, with a circumference of 1715 metres. The tracks front and back straights of the track are 320 metres in length with a 2% camber, however, the turns on the course are made more steep with a 5% camber.^[6] Doomben's entire racetrack is soiled with a kikuyu turf-type and all races conducted on it are run in a clockwise direction, similar to most racetracks in Australia.^[5]

Doomben racecourse also maintains a number of training tracks which lie in the infield of the main racetrack.^[6] From infield-out, the order of these tracks are; track 3, cinder track then track 2 with circumferences of 1550m, 1600m and 1650m respectively. Tracks 2 and 3 have an average width of 14m and 17m respectively, with both having the same kikuyu turf as the main racetrack.^[5]

Prior to the opening of Doomben racecourse, a grandstand was built by the Kell and Rigby construction company in 1932. Architecture services were provided by G.H.M. Addison and MacDonald with the contract price of the grandstand amounting to 23,344 pounds.^[7] Following this, new additions were made to the grandstand in 1982 costing a total of $8 million.^[8] As at 2021, this grandstand is split into a members stand and a public stand enclosing venues such as the Satchel, Chief De Beers, Vo Rogue, 10,000 and Home Return rooms which were last renovated in 2018.^[1]

In November 2019, Project Pumps & Irrigation completed the installation of a personally designed irrigation system for the two racecourses of Doomben and Eagle Farm.^[9] Since the major works were completed in December 1996, this installation was the first change made to the system, which involved an entire replacement of the old system followed by the integration of a centrally controlled automated system. The water source used for this new irrigation system is an 8 ML storage in the infield of Doomben racecourse, which is fed solely from an 18 ML storage dam on Eagle Farm racecourse, which is subsequently filled by stored runoff stormwater.^[10]

Doomben racecourse is currently^[when?] owned and operated by the Brisbane Racing Club (BRC), an entity which also owns and operates the neighbouring racecourse – Eagle Farm – which together, serve as the two most prominent Racecourses in South East Queensland.^[11] The BRC has operated within and between these two courses since the club's establishment in 2009, following a merger between two clubs; the Queensland Turf Club (QTC) and the Brisbane Turf Club (BTC). The QTC, prior to the merger, had operated out of Eagle Farm Racecourse since the club's first race meeting in August 1865, with the BTC operating solely from Doomben racecourse. Although the BTC has conducted race meetings at Doomben since the course's opening and inaugural race in 1933, the BTC was formally known as the Brisbane Amateur Turf Club (BATC) which was the club that the Doomben course officially opened under. This change in club name, from BATC to BTC, occurred in 1997 and remained up until the 2009 merger.^[3]

The idea for this merger had been building up throughout the 2000s, as well as the possibility to potentially close the Doomben course in its entirety. Firm motions in favour of the merger then arose in 2007 due to Queensland Racing stating that the individual clubs of the BTC and QTC could not continue operations separately. This was due to increasing competition between the two clubs, and the subsequent division of attendants, which decreased overall profits. Indicative of this rivalry was the BTC's loss of over $1,000,000 in 2008. Consequently, in July 2009, this merger became official and the BRC was formed.^[3]

Historically, the vast majority of land in Brisbane, known as Meanjin, has been occupied by the Turrbal clan, together with the Jagera people.^[12] First records, following colonisation, indicate that the land on which Doomben racecourse stands was property of The Crown up until October 1915 when it was purchased by a syndicate in recognition of its suitability to become a registered racecourse. In 1919, these 55.38 hectares of land were then purchased by Doomben Park Recreation Grounds Limited at a cost of 30,000 pounds. Over this time modifications were made to the property by both the syndicate and purchasing company, in order to prepare it for registered race meetings. These modifications included additions of fences, horse stables, starting lanes and a saddling paddock as well as the formation of a grass racing track with a 6-furlong straight. In 1930, the Royal Commission recommended that the Doomben land be sold or leased to an established racing club in order to facilitate registered racing, which was subsequently enacted and resulted in the BATC purchasing the land in 1933.^[13]

From 1933 onwards, Doomben racecourse conducted numerous race meetings up until 1941, in which an attack on Pearl Harbor in WWII resulted in American Military Forces being moved from Hawaii to Brisbane's suburb of Hamilton. From here, the American troops proceeded to occupy a vast majority of Brisbane suburbs, which included camps Doomben and Ascot, established respectively at both Doomben and Eagle Farm racecourse. These two camps, separated only by Nudgee road, were not enough to accommodate the approximate one million troops stationed in the suburb of Ascot between the years 1941 and 1945, and therefore an extension camp known as Camp Raceview was developed off of Camp Doomben, spanning North over Raceview Avenue. Over this period, Doomben racecourse's tracks, buildings and grandstands were all transformed into offices and accommodation to support the American Servicemen. This included modifications such as the infield of the course being covered by tents and the Members Stand being converted into an Australian Army Signals Office.^[14] The South-East extension that connects to the six furlong straight of Doomben racecourse was similarly converted into an apron for aircraft and hangars which lie in the Eagle Farm aerodrome, adjacent to the course. This provided access for the American troops to load, unload, refuel and board these aircraft.^[15] During this period of Military occupation on both racecourses, the weekly Saturday races of both clubs were moved to Albion park, which at the time was owned by the BATC, allowing for an easy transition.^[16]