FERN TREE GULLY (VIC)
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1947 - BRENOCK PARK SPEEDWAY
Brenock Park has been around since the 1880's, originally a horse racing track, in 1948 the park was used for a major Australia Day function, at the time the grounds were refered to as the Fern Tree Gully Recreation Ground.
In 1947 the catholic church who owned the property built a speedway, The opening meeting was in March of that year, the grounds were used for Midget and Bicycle racing, every sunday competitors and the public would flock to the track for the event.
Photo: John Chadwick - Aussie Speedway Memories.
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1956
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That all changed in 1956 when a spectator was killed as a result of a Hot Rod ploughing into the crowd, The end result was the Government closed down the track in May of 1965, the track was reopened a short time later just for personal use.
(Editorial and photo's compiled by Allan Baker)
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1956 - THE AGE NEWSPAPER REPORTED
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Two Spectators Hurt at Brenock Park Races
A ten year old boy and a 19 year old youth were injured yesterday when a stock car sent a eighteen foot log flying into the crowd at Brenock Park Speedway, Immediately after the race the meeting was discontinued on recommendation from Fern Tree Gully Police.
Those injured were Michael Jeffrey 10 (fractured scull) and Ernest Harvie 19, it was the first accident since the speedway re opened on April the 1st, it had been closed by Government orders.
On February the 12th and on March the 4th this year, two girls aged 5 and 17 were fatally injured.
The ban was lifted after trustees of the park had compiled a operations policy with Health Commission Safety Regulations.
Yesterdays accident occoured as stock car racer, Ray Noble began to turn into the straight on the North East corner of the track, Noble's car rammed by a car following him tore into the fence and ripped off an eighteen foot log, The log was shot fifteen foot into the air and twenty foot across the safety fences, where it crashed into a crowd of more than thirty people standing on a wooden platform.
After treatment at the ground, the injured boy and youth were rushed by ambulance with Police Motorcycle escort at high speed to the Alfred Hospital, last night their condition was satisfactory.
New Ban
The Government will again ban racing at Brenock Park if safety precautions are found to be inadequate.
The Minister for Health (Mr Cameron) who stated last night, said he would today instrust the Health Commission to inspect the arena at the park and carefully examine the safety measures.
If the investigations disclosed that the precautions were not sufficient for public safety, an imediate ban would be placed on racing there.
Mr Cameron said that the commission had recently decided that certain precautions must be taken at stock car races and if conditions at Brenock Park fell short of these requirements, immediate action would be taken.
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28th May 1956
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1960's - SPEEDCAR ACTION
Photo: unknown.
Alan Streader recalls: I raced Tq's at Brenock Park, the track wasn't far from the railway station, It had rained heavy the night before and the infield resembled a lake but the track itself wasn't too bad, someone decided to cut a trench across the track and let the lake drain away, That worked well with the run off disappearing rather quickly, the trench was filled and the track prepared for racing, the Tq's went out and did practice laps early only to find that the track surface was loose in that corner and unsettled the cars a little.
Some speedcars had come up from Maryibynong to do some demonstration laps, the tq boys boys pre-warned the speedcar drivers about the bad spot in the middle of the turn, the response was, we'll be ok, we've got real race cars, The speedcars took off keeping close together, trying to make the race look entertaining, all went well until thst unsettled turn when all cars ran into each other, the end result was the real race cars were all lifted from the track and all went home with major damage, meanwhile the tq's had a full day of racing.
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1965 - St JOSEPH'S COLLEGE
After the Speedway closed St Joseph's College was built in 1965.
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1970's - SPEEDWAY DISPLAY
It appears that from the Monaro pictured in the backround of these Hot Rod display photo's the photo's may have been taken after the 1970's.
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