Shelter in the stand: Flemington's quiet contribution to WWI

The Maribyrnong Stand, they called it. It has long gone, but when built in 1886 it was spacious, ‘erected in the most substantial way, the indestructible red gum entering largely into its composition’. In other words, it was in timber, with seating for 2,500 racegoers. It became redundant by 1924 when a two-tier concrete stand was built in front of it for VRC members, and this in turn has given way to the present-day Club Stand.

Why was it ‘The Maribyrnong Stand’? This new grandstand offered a superior view of races down the Straight Six and, of these, the Maribyrnong Plate was one of the biggest. The historic Group 3 Maribyrnong Plate is still run during the Melbourne Cup Carnival as a 1000-metre sprint for two-year-olds. In the 1880s, the Plate was as eagerly anticipated as today’s autumn Blue Diamond or Golden Slipper. It was a huge betting race. Leading stables put their new crop to the test.

The Maribyrnong Stand found itself put to a completely unexpected use in 1915, early in the First World War. Sheltered from rain, unless a tempest was blowing from the south, and protected to some extent from wind, it was an open-air stand. In that cold winter, the Maribyrnong Stand became sleeping quarters with rugs and palliasses for hundreds of young army recruits who had just enlisted to serve with the Australian Infantry Force overseas.

The war had begun a year earlier, and with it came a first wave of volunteers. They needed to be accommodated at training camps not too far from the city centre. A farm at Broadmeadows was hastily selected, and served its purpose through the spring and following summer. The first contingents proceeded overseas. Then, towards the end of April 1915, rain set in. The place became a quagmire. Flu and measles raged, even meningitis. ‘The climate of Broadmeadows has small mercy on weaklings’, said one newspaper. Most of the remaining trainees were relocated to Puckapunyal.

April 1915 also represented the start of the Gallipoli campaign, the birthplace of the ANZAC legend. Reports of multiple Australian deaths and casualties galvanised a further recruiting campaign and a new wave of enlistments. But where were the new recruits to be accommodated? The wide open spaces of a city racecourse had an immediate appeal, but tents were in short supply. The solution was the agricultural pavilions at the Royal Agricultural Society Showgrounds on the other side of the railway to the racecourse. They called it ‘the Flemington Camp’. By July, 4000 men were accommodated there.

The committee of the VRC watched with mixed feelings. As a group, nobody was more patriotic, and already the Club had decreed that profits from wartime meetings should go to war funds. But they were adamant that racing, even if reduced, must continue at Flemington. It was partly a case of morale, partly ensuring that the industry of breeding thoroughbreds should continue. And horses, of all breeds, had a huge part to play in warfare in that era. Thousands of Australian war horses were sent to overseas theatres of war, never to return.

Still the AIF recruits kept coming, and the Showgrounds pavilions reached capacity. At first there were thoughts that the racecourse infield could be used for tent accommodation, but the real attraction here was for drill, marching and military exercises. At the end of July, the VRC agreed to make the Maribyrnong Stand available as temporary sleeping accommodation.

Henry Byron Moore, the pragmatic long-serving Secretary of the VRC, explained arrangements to the evening Herald newspaper: two thousand soldiers would sleep in the Maribyrnong Stand bench seating and in the horse boxes. ‘The men will only sleep at Flemington,’ he explained. ‘They will go across from the Show Ground after each evening meal, and return there before breakfast on the following morning. There will be no cooking or anything like that on the course, and training and racing will not be inconvenienced’.

It proved to be a temporary arrangement. The press refrained from reporting on what the recruits thought of their quarters. By the end of August a new camp was up and running at nearby Royal Park, while Broadmeadows was being put back in order. By the spring racing carnival, when Patrobas won the Victoria Derby and Melbourne Cup, the Maribyrnong Stand was back to its customary use. Perhaps some names of soldiers or their sweethearts remained, scratched into the timber seating. Some of those names would have a more permanent record in the Australian War Memorial, among those who died for their country.

When the Members’ Stand was built in 1924, the Maribyrnong Stand was cut into in sections, removed in lorries and rebuilt at Werribee Racecourse. Here it did duty for another half century, silent witness to one poignant moment in the history of Flemington.