Ascot Racecourse Sydney: The Forgotten Racecourse That Became Sydney Airport

How a 20th-century racecourse in Mascot disappeared beneath Sydney Airport

More on Randwick

By ALEC SMART

Ascot Racecourse was a horse racing track that operated from 1904 to 1941 in Mascot, on land that was later repurposed for Sydney Airport. Named after the famous Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire, England, the site was formerly owned by the Australian Golf Club and previously used for grazing stock in the vicinity of an abattoir. 

1911 Joseph Hammond in his Box Kite Plane takes off from Ascot Racecourse

It was leased by Kensington Race Club, proprietors of the Randwick Racecourse, as a secondary site in close proximity to Randwick. Punters travelling to one venue could easily divert to the other.

The half-mile Ascot course was then one of four racecourses in Sydney where unregistered proprietary horse racing, known as ‘pony racing’, took place. It also hosted motor racing. Spectators, who often watched horses and vehicles competing in succession, arrived via a tramline along Botany Rd. 

With Randwick established as a premier race venue, from Sept 1880, a dedicated steam tram service operated from Liverpool Street in the city to Alison Road outside Randwick Racecourse. In 1900 it was expanded to a racecourse loop station with six platforms to handle large race-going crowds.

Ascot Racecourse was, like Randwick, a clockwise course on which the horses ran in a clockwise (right-handed) direction. The British Ascot, founded 1911 by Queen Anne after she repurposed the open heathland near her home in Windsor Castle, is also a clockwise track. 

Clockwise courses make up a small percentage of the thoroughbred horse racing venues in the world – around 15 of the 60 tracks in Britain are clockwise, whereas in USA, all racing is counter-clockwise (left-turning). 

In Australia, clockwise racing courses are located primarily in New South Wales and Queensland - around 150 of the approximately 400 registered racecourses nationwide. This means horses brought in from other states have to re-orient themselves to run in the opposite direction to that in which they’re familiar. 

The first ever registered race track in Australia, in Hyde Park, was established to run clockwise so Elizabeth Henrietta Macquarie, the wife of the then Governor of NSW, Lachlan Macquarie, didn’t have to squint into the sun to watch the spectacle. The first official race event took place in 1810 over three days – 15, 17, 19 October.

Mrs Macquarie enjoyed clear views – on Yurong Point peninsula facing Sydney Harbour a historic bench, known as Mrs Macquarie's Chair (hand-carved into a large sandstone boulder by convicts in 1810), was one of her favourite spots to watch vessels sailing by.  

Mrs Macquarie never attended horse racing events in Randwick, which opened in 1833, or its subsidiary, Ascot. She died on 11 March 1835 on the island of Mull, Scotland, aged just 56. 

Runway

The Ascot track is significant because of the take-off of Sydney’s first ever recognised flight on 18 April 1911, a Bristol Boxkite triplane. An earlier, disputed flight, took place from Victoria Park but aviation historians have described it as more of a ‘hop’ before the plane crash-landed. 

It was piloted by pioneering New Zealand aviator Joseph Hammond. That aerial event proved fortuitous - the racecourse was later proposed as the prime site for a Sydney airport.

In 1911 the area known as North Botany, which included Ascot Racecourse, held a referendum to rename the emerging suburb. The Indigenous name of ‘Booralee’ was rejected, so too ‘Ascot,’ due to concerns mail would be redirected to the racecourse. Ultimately, the name ‘Mascot’ was chosen and established as a municipality (later a suburb) on 31 October 1911.

In 1919, 80 hectares of Ascot’s grassed land (with beneficially level ground) was sub-leased from Kensington Race Club by former Air Force pilot Nigel Love, who constructed an aerodrome close to Botany Bay. The first flight took off in November 1919 by Love carrying a film camera operator, and on 9 January 1920 Sydney Aerodrome was officially launched with a flight by Love himself. 

In 1923, when Love’s lease expired, the Commonwealth Government compulsorily-purchased the 80 hectares, which they added to a neighbouring 65-hectare plot they purchased in 1921, and built Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. By 1924, regular flights were operating.

In 1940, during World War II, nearby Ascot Racecourse was repurposed as a military camp (so too was Randwick Racecourse), and thereafter was never utilised as a race track again. At the war’s end, Ascot was demolished and added to the expanding Sydney Airport site.

Several other prominent racecourses never reopened after they were utilised as military barracks in WWII, leaving just five in operation across Sydney: Randwick, Canterbury, Rosehill, Warwick Farm and Rosebery. Rosebery Racecourse in Eastlakes closed in 1962 and a shopping centre built on the site.

The only remnant of Ascot Racecourse is a line of fifteen fig trees that once graced the entrance road. Heritage-listed, they’re part of the landscaped areas adjacent to the International Airport long-term carpark.

Ascot’s demolition left Randwick Racecourse as the premier equine racing venue in the district. 

According to the Dictionary of Sydney, by the 1890s, Sydney had a network of racecourses, including Canterbury, Moorefield, Warwick Farm, Sydney Driving Park and Lillie Bridge – the latter featuring pony racing and trotting. Historically, the region south of Sydney, where Royal Randwick is now Sydney’s premier course, once hosted five major competition tracks.

Sydney’s first racecourses

Although Royal Randwick Racecourse is recognised as Australia’s oldest, continually running official race venue, within a decade of its 1833 opening there were several other racecourses across the rapidly expanding Sydney colony. These included Grose Farm (in Camperdown, 1826-40), Parramatta (1825-47), Lillie Bridge (in Forest Lodge/Glebe, 1890-1901, used for pony racing, trotting and cycling) and Homebush (1841-59) – the latter the premier equine competition venue until Randwick succeeded it in 1860.

As the sport gained in popularity, numerous other turf tracks opened, including the still-operating Canterbury (1852 informal racing, 1871 official events), Rose Hill (1885), Moorefield (in Kogarah, 1888-1951), Warwick Farm (1889), and Kensington (1890-1942).

When the new century arrived, still more racecourses were launched, including the aforementioned Ascot (1904-41), Rosebery (1906-1962) and Victoria Park (1908-1944).