Victoria Park Racecourse, Sydney
Coordinates: 33°54′29″S 151°12′38″E / 33.908°S 151.2105°E 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. The racecourse was privately owned and developed by Sir James John Joynton Smith (1858–1943), a hotelier, racecourse and newspaper owner. It was said at the time to be the grandest and finest of the pony horseracing courses in Sydney.
In 1908 a clay-and-cinders track of 1.81 kilometres in length was built around the horseracing course and was utilised for speedway racing by both cars and motorcycles until the early 1920s.
In 1909 the first powered flight in Australia took place here in a Wright model A plane named "The Stella". The pilot was Colin Defries although only flying 120 yards at 15 feet it is acknowledged by Australian historians[6] and the Aviation Historical Society of Australia that the definition of flight established by the Gorell Committee on behalf of the Aero Club of Great Britain dictates the acceptance of a flight or its rejection, giving Colin Defries credit as the first to make an aeroplane flight. A 20-page booklet entitled The History of Aviation Souvenir Australian Tour by Ambrose Pratt under direction of J &N Tait 6d price was issued at the time. It shows pictures of the pilot & the plane and also a seated passenger with caption preparing to fly.
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