Country racing, community first.
Who we are
The Hibernian Race Club runs Beaudesert Hibernian Race Day — one of the Scenic Rim's favourite days out. It's a not-for-profit effort built on a simple idea: put on a cracking country race day, and use it to back the local community.
Our story
The Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club holds a rare and treasured place in Australian racing. Its roots run back more than a century, and for seven decades it has held a charity race meeting under the Hibernian banner — a proud tradition of giving to Beaudesert and the wider Queensland community.
It started on New Year's Day, 1895, when three local landowners — Richard Deerain, Edward Woods and Jeremiah Dunn — held their first meeting as members of the Kerry Race Club at Shamrock Vale, the Deerain property at Kerry, south-west of Beaudesert.
By 1907 the Hibernian Race Club had its own identity, running "Hack Races" on the Shamrock Vale course alongside the Kerry Race Club. The meeting became an annual New Year's Eve fixture — and even then, it was run to raise money for the local community.
Both clubs went into recess in 1939 during World War II. After the war, the Kerry Race Club re-formed to help build a local Catholic church, briefly known as the Kerry Church Building Fund Race Club. On 5 August 1948 the dormant Hibernian Race Club merged with it and registered with the Queensland Turf Club — and the modern Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club was born. Its first meeting under the Hibernian banner ran on 22 June 1949, headlined by the Beaudesert Hibernian Handicap over 1600m for prize money of 100 pounds.
In the mid-1950s the QTC granted the club permanent status on the provincial circuit — the only provincial club in Queensland with a permanent "Charity Race" date.
Under chairman Monsignor Owen Steele, the local Catholic priest, the club took on a bigger purpose: to help build a home for boys in need, which became BoysTown. The first BoysTown race meeting ran in 1961 and grew into a major event, drawing crowds of more than 6,000. In 1984 a single meeting raised a record $70,000. Between 1961 and the final BoysTown Race Day in 1988, the club raised more than $500,000 for BoysTown.
From 1989, the race day supported Brisbane's Mount Olivet Hospital for 13 years, raising close to $1 million for the sick, aged and terminally ill.
Since 2003 the club has raised funds for the Wesley Hospital Breast Cancer unit, RACQ CareFlight rescue and, most recently, Cancer Council Queensland.
More than a century on, the mission hasn't changed: a great country race day, run for charity.
A great day out.
Racing, fashion, music and food, done properly.
Backing local causes.
We run race day for charity — in 2026, every $10 gate entry went to our major beneficiary, Beaucare.
Backing grassroots sport.
Local grassroots sport and community organisations are often chosen as beneficiaries of the Beaudesert Hibernian Race Club.
Run by volunteers
Beaudesert Hibernian Race Day is put on by local volunteers who love a good day at the races and want to give something back to the Scenic Rim. It's a team effort — and it shows on the day.
Community partners
Community partners — to be announced. We team up with local clubs and community groups each year. Keen to partner with us for 2027? Get in touch and the Committee will consider it.