Heritage
The Moonee Valley Racecourse represents almost 130 years of the history of a local community. The Racecourse itself contains several sites of heritage significance at both a local and State level. Details of these are given below.
Edna Walling GardenEdna Walling was one of Australia's finest most influential Landsape Designers in the 20th Century. The Club Secretary's garden in MVRC is one of only two examples of a Walling Garden design in Melbourne's North West. (The outline of which is precisely detailed on a sketch held in the picture collection of the State Library of Victoria).
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Alister Clark Rose GardenAlister Clark was a successful rose breeder in Australia. His first rose produced in 1912 was called the R. "Lady Medallist", named after a successful racehorse. He was a Chairman of the MVRC, his memorial, the Alister Clark Stakes is still run in the autumn race carnival at MVRC.
A rose garden was built by Alister Clark at MVRC however we believe the rose garden has become degraded and most of the roses have gone. |
S.R Burston Stand (Grandstand MVRC)This was designed by Edward F Billson who was the first student to graduate in architecture from The University of Melbourne. He was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin and is famous for the modenist (Deco) Sanitarium Health Food Factory. The Burston Stand was build by E.A Watts and completed in 1958 and then extended and refurbished by Edward F Billson, his son, in 1972-73.
E.A.Watts E.A. Watts, of Chevron Hotel and Hotel Australia fame, was awarded the Master Builders of Australia Medal in 1951 for overcoming Melbourne's difficult sub-strata. In a recent articule in "The Age", Andrew Lemon, President of the Royal Historical Society, referred to a contempory quote from the 1970's as saying the grandstand is the 'best in Australia'. Manikato's Garden The horse's remains are interred within the commemorative garden.
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H.J. Wagstaff - Club Secretary's HouseH.J Wagstaff designed the MVRC Club Secretary's house on the corner of Thomas and McPherson St, Moonee Ponds. Simon Reeves, Principal, Built Heritage Pty Ltd, described the house as "a large, inter-warl dwelling of a particular type, scale, style and grandeur that is typically associated with suburbs such as Toorak, South Yarra, Brighton and Kew, but is considerably more unusual in Moonee Ponds". He also stated that "the property also derives significance from its association with Edna Walling who landscaped the grounds in what is evidently her only commission within what is now the City of Moonee Valley".
Mr. Robin Grow of the Art Deco and Modernism Society, believes H.J.Wagstaff's rare domestic commission of the Art Deco House is a unique expression of International Georgian / Deco architecture, and that the features of the home are visionary. |
MVRC site also contains:
Stalls which housed Phar Lap in the early 1930's.
A peppercorn tree of considerable age and stature.
A peppercorn tree of considerable age and stature.