Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club
Racing for charity
Next Race Meeting: Saturday 26th May 2012 - Last Saturday in May
What's On
Beaudesert Hibernian Charity Race Day
Saturday May 26, 2012
Come to Beaudesert Racecourse on Saturday, May 26 for the Beaudesert Hibernian Charity Race Day and help raise money for Cancer Council Queensland. Proceeds from this year’s event will go towards supporting cancer research, help lines and support services for Queenslanders. A full race program and fun-filled day for the whole family is planned. Hospitality packages for corporate guests or individuals are available.
An exciting race program is on offer. The Beaudesert Hibernian Charity Race Day boasts a QTK Class 3 Plate over 1100m as well as the Col Watt Hibernian Cup which is a Class 2 race over 2450m – in the tradition of the great stayer races.
Enjoy the thrill of being trackside in an elegant, but relaxed country setting. Beaudesert Racecourse is located just minutes from town and just over an hour’s drive from Brisbane, Ipswich or the Gold Coast.
The course is set beside picturesque Il-bogan Lagoon, a beautiful setting steeped in history which boasts a panoramic view across the racecourse to the ranges of the Scenic Rim.
It’s family-friendly, fun-filled country winter racing at its very best in beautiful Beaudesert.
It’s where racing comes alive!
Packages and Programs
A family day out
A family day out with a difference. Parents can relax and enjoy the company of friends and be sure the kids will have plenty to do all day long.
Download children's activities program Download
Charity Luncheon
Proceeds will be donated to our nominated charity – Cancer Council Qld. BOOK NOW
Set under our trackside marquee and surrounded by country elegnace – join us for a fully catered buffet lunch with glass of champagne on arrival. Download our flyer and booking form for further information.
Download charity luncheon flyer Download
Race Day Snapshot
Five Race Program
Full tote & bookies
2450m Cup Race
Doomben 10000 Raceday
- Fashions on the field
- Race Book Prizes
- Children’s & family activities
- Music & entertainment all day
History
A history of giving comes alive
The Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club holds a unique and treasured place within the Australian horseracing community.
This year marks 116 years since the club’s earliest beginnings were stirred and 62 years, almost to the day, that the first charity race meeting under the Hibernian banner was held in the Beaudesert district.
It marks a proud tradition of more than a century of continuous service to Beaudesert and beyond throughout Queensland, stretching back to January 1, 1895.
In that year, three local landowners – Richard Deerain, Edward Woods and Jeremiah Dunn – staged their inaugural meeting as members of the Kerry Race Club at the Deerain property, Shamrock Vale, Kerry, south west of Beaudesert.
By 1907 a separate identity was born, resulting in the Hibernian Race Club conducting “Hack Races” on the Shamrock Vale course in conjunction with the Kerry Race Club. The event had now become an annual New Year’s Eve race meeting, but still held to raise funds for the “underprivileged” of the local community.
World War II saw the two clubs go into recess in 1939. Soon after the war, the Kerry Race Club re-emerged with the objective of building a Catholic Church, producing what was briefly known as “The Kerry Church Building Fund Race Club”.
On August 5, 1948, the still dormant Hibernian Race Club merged with the Kerry Church Building Race Club and registered with the Queensland Turf Club. The modern Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club as we know it today was born, conducting its first race meeting under the Hibernian banner on June 22, 1949. The feature race on the program was the Beaudesert Hibernian Handicap run over 1600m with prize money of 100 pounds.
In the mid 1950s, the Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club was granted permanent status in the provincial circuit by the QTC. It was the only provincial club in Queensland to be granted a permanent “Charity Race” date.
Local Catholic priest, Monsignor Owen Steele was elected chairman of the club. His vision was to build an establishment for “wayward” boys, later to be known as Boystown. In 1961, the first Boystown race meeting was held, the forerunner of the annual Boystown Race Day. More than 100 bookmakers would arrive from all over Queensland to field at the popular event, catering to crowds upward of 6000 as the race meetings grew in popularity.
In 1984 a record $70,000 was raised and donated to Boystown as a result of the race meeting. Between 1961 and the final Boystown Race Day in 1988, more than $500,000 was raised in support of Boystown. The Mount Olivet Hospital in Brisbane became the beneficiary of the race day in 1989, an association that continued for 13 years, raising nearly $1 million for the sick, aged and frail and terminally ill.
Since 2003, the Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club has raised funds for the Wesley Hospital Breast Cancer unit and more recently the RACQ Careflight rescue and retrieval helicopter service.
In 2011, the 62nd year of Beaudesert Hibernian charity race meetings, the club steps up its fund raising efforts to hopefully touch the lives of even more Queenslanders.
With the aid of official media partner Queensland Country Life, the club has spent weeks engaged in pre-race promotional activity to raise funds for its new beneficiary, Cancer Council Queensland.
The 2012 race meeting on May 26 is the culmination of those efforts. It will draw together the hard work and expertise of the club’s committee, volunteers from Cancer Council Queensland and staff from Queensland Country Life. They have worked tirelessly to promote the Hibernian Race Club philosophy as an organisation of charity which exists solely to benefit others.
Beaudesert Hibernian Race Day – Racing for charity
Gallery
Click the thumbnails to view the images.
Contact Us
- President
Tim Kelly
P: 07 5541 4722 - Sponsorship and Function Enquiries:
Mick Rose
M: 0402 641 831
E: mickro@tpg.com.au - Media inquiries:
Marg Moss
M: 0434 350 449
