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The first Bong Bong Picnic Race meeting was held 125 years ago and – apart from a gap of 30 years from 1930, and for six years from 1985 – the annual local event has been held since.

Four different sites were used for the Bong Bong racecourse.

The original Bong Bong Picnic Race Club was founded in 1886 and the first Picnic Race meeting was held on 4 February 1887 in the grounds of Throsby Park at Moss Vale. A site near the Briars Inn became the racecourse in 1901 and a new venue was established at Burradoo in 1910. The last meeting of the original Club was held there in 1930.

Thirty years later a new Bong Bong Picnic Race Club was formed in 1959 with the intention of recreating the atmosphere of the earlier Club meetings. Their first meeting was held at the Wyeera property on the Bowral-Kangaloon Road.

The revived event became so popular that by the 1980s Bong Bong was the largest picnic race meeting in the world. At a time when race crowds were declining, Bong Bong’s increased to reach almost 35,000 in 1985.

However these large crowds caused major traffic congestion and unruly behaviour became a problem, so the picnic races were stopped. Then in 1992 the event was once again revived but under strict crowd control with attendance limited to only members and their guests.

1. The early years on Throsby land at Moss Vale

The first Bong Bong Picnic Race Club was launched at a meeting in Moss Vale on 3 May 1886, attended by Messrs J Lackey, J Ponder, J Cordeaux, P Throsby and H Graham. Mr Pat Throsby gave the Club the right to choose from two sites on his estate for a racecourse. The area chosen was near Throsby Park house and much later was still known as Racecourse Paddock.

The inaugural Picnic Race meeting was reported as being very successful, with the winner of the first Bong Bong Cup being Mr H Chisholm’s horse Don Antonio. Other races on the day included the Hack Race, the Wingecarribee Plate, the Ladies Bracelet, the Picnic Race, the Bachelors’ Bag and the Welter Handicap.

The day was proclaimed a district holiday, and that night a ball was held in the Agricultural Society’s hall at Moss Vale.

Foundation members of the Club were H Acraman, who rode the winner of the first Cup; John Henry, Andrew and Frank Badgery of the pioneering family in the Exeter district, who held executive positions from time to time; E M Betts, a Goulburn lawyer; Chris Bennett, proprietor of the old Sydney newspaper The Evening News; M Butler, R Campbell, and Edward Carter who had large properties at Canyonleigh.

Other foundation members included W J and P C Cordeaux, pioneers of the Wollondilly River area; Austin de Lauvet, whose sister was Mother Superior at the Dominican Convent in Moss Vale for many years; William McCourt, a member of the Legislative Council; the Nicholsons, founders of ‘Newbury Farm’ near Sutton Forest; B M Osborne, who built ‘Hopewood House’ at Bowral; Alec Osborne, who built ‘Hamilton House’ that became Tudor House School, Moss Vale; and H M Oxley, descendent of Surveyor-General Oxley.

The first President was Pat Throsby from 1886 to 1892 then Sir John Lackey from 1893 to 1903. The Hon H E Kater became President in 1904 and then held the position until the Club disbanded in 1930.

The sixth Bong Bong Picnic Race meeting was perhaps the most enjoyable yet held reported the Berrima Free Press in 1892. “Over a thousand visitors must have been present, the fair sex comprising quite half of this total. A continuous stream of vehicles rolled up to the course, each one depositing its freight of gaily dressed ladies. The Moss Vale band enlivened the proceedings during the two days.”

In 1899 the Mittagong Express reported that “at the annual re-union of the Picnic Race Club there were good attendances, notwithstanding that the weather was none too pleasant. The annual ball of the Club was held in the Moss Vale Hall on Friday night . . . The hall was prettily decorated with ferns and Chinese lanterns and an excellent supper was served.” About 150 local people and their visitors attended the ball.

2. 30 years of successful race meetings, 1900 to 1930

In 1901 the Bong Bong racecourse was relocated to a large and pleasant grassy area between the Briars Inn and the Wingecarribee River (now the Bong Bong Common) adjacent to the Moss Vale-Bowral Road.

This remained the site for the increasingly popular annual two-day event until about 1911.

Then the Bong Bong Picnic Race meeting was moved to Normans Paddock, known as ‘Old Meadows’ at Burradoo. This was a section of land on the western side of the Bowral-Moss Vale Road, just near the Eridge Park Road turnoff. This land featured a beautiful spread of trees that provided shade for the picnic lawns.

The original Race Club functioned as a club until 1921 when it was formed into a company, known as the Bong Bong Picnic Race Club, which then purchased the racecourse grounds.

That year Mr H L Austin’s Purser won at Bong Bong and later won the Caulfield Cup.

In 1924 the Sydney Mail reported that many of the visitors to the Picnic Race meeting later attended the Moss Vale Golf Club’s ball on the Thursday night, and on Friday night the Bong Bong Club’s ball was a brilliant finale to the festivities.

The Sydney Mail gave a glowing report in 1927: “There are altogether too few picnic race meetings in Australia. Bong Bong is one of the best. Seldom has the racecourse looked better. The recent rain had imparted a rich verdure to grass and trees, which formed a picturesque background for the pretty and varied dressing of the ladies.”

That year Mr H C Osborne’s Bronze Fuze, trained by Warwick Farm-based Norman Dewsbury, won the Bong Bong Cup by a head from Bequest in a thrilling race to the finish.

Two years later, the doping of Bronze Fuze, favourite for the 1929 Bong Bong Cup, marred what should have gone down as one of the Club’s most successful race meetings.

The Sydney Mail of 23 January reported that visitors from all parts of NSW enjoyed the 39th annual meeting and the racing throughout was exceptionally keen, although some of the fields were on the small side.

Consternation was caused when it became known that the favourite for the principal race, Bronze Fuze, was ‘doped’ by some unknown person prior to the race. When the horse left the barrier it was seen that something was wrong although he responded for a time to his rider’s coaxing. But as the horse’s suffering was evident, his rider allowed him to slow up and he ran home four lengths behind the winner, Anvil.

When the start was given Bronze Fuze had first of all attempted to run off into the bush. After passing the finishing post he could not be pulled up until he had run among trees half a mile away, where he was dismounted and led back by his rider.

It was then seen what a pitiful condition he was in. The pupils of his eyes were dilated, his tongue was dry and he appeared totally blind. It was later established that he had been poisoned with belladonna, the active ingredient of which, atrophine, is similar to what oculists drop into the eyes of a patient suffering from defective eyesight in order to see at the back of the eye, and this has the effect of sending the patient blind for the time being.

As to the culprits, the Sydney Mail reported that the doping was most likely in the interests of a gang who had backed Anvil off the course and, as starting-price betting is illegal, it was not likely that any off-course merchant would come forward saying he had been victimised. One thing was certain: the bookmakers operating on the course were not big winners over Bronze Fuze’s defeat, only one of them showing a profit of £200 on the race.

A chauffeur told the Stipendiary Steward that he saw a young man slip some crystals into Bronze Fuze’s drinking water before the race but was unable to identify that man.

The doping of Bronze Fuze almost put a finish to the grand galloper that, but seven days before, had won the Cup at the Tirranna Picnic Race Club meeting near Goulburn.

It also heralded the end of the original Bong Bong Club that would only hold one more meeting.

3. End of an era in 1930s and new beginning in 1959

At the time of the scandalous ‘doping’ in 1929 that almost put a finish to the grand galloper Bronze Fuze, the Bong Bong Picnic Race Club was struggling to make ends meet.

Adverse conditions caused by the Great Depression were undermining confidence and money was scarce. Even though the Club provided only trophies and not cash prizes, times were tough and it could no longer conduct the races at Bong Bong. Its last ever meeting was held on 16 and 17 January 1930.

The Bong Bong Cup, made of solid gold encased in oak, was won that year by Miss McClarty’s Kinaird, ridden by Frank Bennett.

In order to continue race meetings, a new Bowral Race Club was formed in 1931 and it conducted professional races at the Bong Bong racecourse until the mid 1930s, offering prize money for the winners.

Eventually in 1937 the original Bong Bong Club was wound up and the racecourse was sub-divided for sale.

The name was revived in 1959 when a new Bong Bong Picnic Race Club was formed by a group of district people interested in horse sports and bearing the name of the old Club only.

It was announced in the Southern Mail of 6 August that year thus: “During Festival of Flowers Week the Bong Bong Picnic Race Club will be revived after a lapse of almost 30 years. The newly formed club will conduct its meeting on the Wyeera property of Mr R Jackson in Kangaloon Road, opposite the Milton Park intersection”.

It hoped to recapture the country racecourse atmosphere of the original Bong Bong picnic races and decided on Wyeera as the most suitable site for the racecourse.

Wyeera had been used as a training course and, during the Second World War, sports meetings including horse events were held there for ‘patriotic’ purposes.

A general interest in horse sports had died off during the Depression and the war, but by the early 1950s this interest revived and people began again to buy horses for pleasure – along with a car and horse float. The idea of reinstating the old annual picnic race meetings was often discussed before its revival in 1959.

At Wyeera, an elevated hill standing in the centre served as a natural grandstand with the course designed around the base of the rise. Local people were asked to attire themselves in early century or pre-war dress and to travel to the course in buggy or sulky, if available, and to bring their own hamper luncheons.

The people responded with enthusiasm and the new Bong Bong Picnic Race Club’s first meeting on Saturday, 24 October 1959 was a great success. The winnner of the Bong Bong Cup was Star Hinge, owned by SV Kensit.

The Veteran Car Club of Sydney brought a procession of old vintage cars to the racecourse and Sydney television viewers were able to watch a direct telecast of the races courtesy of Channel 7.

There was some criticism of the event published in the Sydney Telegraph that portrayed the occasion as nothing like the usual picnic race meeting. The reporter stated that the 7,000 people on the makeshift course were a ‘motley crew who wore boaters, battered bowlers, black toppers, grandma’s Easter bonnet, crinolines, anything olde worlde’ and ‘there wasn’t a champagne bottle in sight – just warm beer’.

A retraction was published the following day which went some way to soothe the indignation of the hard-working locals who had coped well with the crowd of 7000 attendees, served cold refreshments from a refrigerated unit and grossed £2500 in takings.

The sour-grapes of the city slickers who scoffed at Bowral’s picnic race day as being nothing like Royal Randwick certainly did nothing to diminish the hordes of people who flocked to the event every year from then on.

By the 1980s Bong Bong was the largest picnic race meeting in the world. At a time when race crowds were generally declining, Bong Bong’s increased to reach almost 35,000 in 1985.

However these large crowds caused major traffic congestion and unruly behaviour became a problem, so the picnic races were stopped. Then in 1992 the event was once again revived but under strict crowd control with attendance limited to only members and their guests.

And so, by surviving, the Bong Bong Picnic event carries on a local tradition begun 125 years ago at the Racecourse Paddock on Throsby land in Moss Vale.