Outside of the central Melbourne area and William’s Town, one of the first areas to attract settlers in the Port Phillip District was the flats of the Plenty River, not too many miles to the north of Preston and a district that was to see Plenty Road later become a main road.
The Plenty district attracted both farmers aware of the rich alluvial soil and a few gold prospectors hopeful of making a quick killing. As in many ways of life, it was the conservative, hard-working farmers that won the day, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t kick up their heels occasionally and by at least 1842, the area had two primitive hotels, both of which survive today, although one not at its original location
Given the flourishing population and presence of the hotels, it wasn’t surprising that the area provided the first of the northern suburb’s sporting attractions.
Boxing Day of 1848 saw the first “Plenty River Races” at the Plough Inn Hotel. The meeting was described as well conducted and without incident other than a broken arm suffered by Mr. Lang, the local butcher who had a tumble from his horse in the steeplechase.
“Without incident” was probably significant given that many of the meetings on Boxing Day became somewhat rough-house affairs as the locals let their hair down after a more-religiously based Christmas Day than many now observe. The main race of the day was the Plough Inn Cup of £25, a very healthy sum for a small country meeting.
By contrast, meetings closer to Melbourne were well-established at St. Kilda and Brighton, with the St. Kilda meeting boasting a top prize of just £20, albeit for four different events over two days. The only meeting at Flemington over the Christmas period was at on New Year’s Day when the St. Leger, then the richest race on the calendar, carried prize money of 100 sovereigns.
Advertisements in The Argus for the Plenty River meeting of the following year revealed that the Plough Inn was in Plenty Road in Mill Park, the district drawing its name after Alfred Hurlstone’s flourmill, later removed to Wood Street in Preston and then to Plenty Road in South Preston. (The specific use of “Mill Park” refutes many claims that the area drew its name from Victoria’s richest man, Henry Miller, who established a large property including training stables, a private racetrack and later home of te Findon Hunt Club from 1863 onwards).
Stewards listed for the meeting were Mr. Wilson and Mr. James Edgar, the Clerk, Mr. C. Walker and the Treasurer, Mr. E. Butler. The advertisement for entries suggested, “a dinner will be provided at the Plough Inn”.
The previews of the second meeting predicted the races would become an annual event, a suggestion that as in many cases was “the kiss of death”.
The Plough Inn is known to have been in existence as least as early as 1842 when the publican was shown as James Coulstock, a member of a family prominent in much of the early history of the area. “The Plenty – a Centenary History of the Whittlesea Shire” published in 1975 provides a couple of hints as to where the Plough Inn was situated, but perhaps muddies the water a little as to the hotel’s origins.
According to the book, the Coulstock family purchased four lots of land not long after the original sales of 1838 and disposed of two parcels in 1847, including one where “… the primitive Plough Inn rose with Edward Butler as the first licensee …”. The second lot was sold to William Cleeland, the pair “… lined the lane that led to John McKimmie’s place”.
The book also claims that when toll gates were introduced into the district in 1854 to help fund the costs of road maintenance, the northernmost was alongside the Plough Inn.
The race meeting seems to have been a cooperative affair, the James Edgar listed as a steward was the publican of the Bridge Inn Hotel, also known to have existed from at least 1842 with the Port Phillip Directory of that year showing “Daniel Cummin, Innkeeper, Bridge Inn Hotel, River Plenty”. This hotel also shows in early records as being at “the Plenty River” but was in South Morang and from what can be traced, probably on the site of today’s hotel of the same name.
Racing disappeared from the Plough Inn until 1860, when another meeting was held. By then the hotel claimed to be in Thomastown, a name that had sprang up during the 1850s after several families of that name settled in the district. Oddly enough there was another meeting scheduled for Epping just three days later with one or two officials including two Cleeland brothers common to both, but sadly no indication of exactly where the races were held.
The Bridge Inn remains on the original site after several reconstructions and being known at various times as the Plenty, Morang and South Morang Hotel.
Although later rebuilt in a location to the west of the original site, the Plough Inn’s name seems to have remained more or less intact except for a (fortunately) brief period between 1866 and 1868 when it was known for some reason as the Will-Will-Wook Hotel.
The discovery of the advertisments puts to rest a mistaken belief of some historians that Mill Park took its name from a property established in the 1860s by Henry”Money” Miller, Victoria’s richest man. Although Miller’s property was by far the most prominent feature of the district, the original “Mill Park” was taken after the establishment by the Hurlstone family of a mill for crushing the wheat grown on the surrounding lands. The Hurlstone mill was later moved to Wood Street in Preston and then to Plenty Road in South Preston.
Despite later meetings at the two Preston (or Irish Town) hotels of the 1850s, the Rose, Thistle and Shamrock and the Preston Arms, both were “left in the shade” in terms of both the establishment of the premises and the organisation of a much earlier race meeting by their cousins even further to the north.
Outside of the central Melbourne area and William’s Town, one of the first areas to attract settlers in the Port Phillip District was the flats of the Plenty River, not too many miles to the north of Preston and a district that was to see the Plenty-road later become a main road.
The Plenty district attracted both farmers aware of the rich alluvial soil and a few gold prospectors hopeful of making a quick killing. As in many ways of life, it was the conservative, hard-working farmers that won the day, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t kick up their heels occasionally and by at least 1842, the area had two primitive hotels, both of which survive today, although one not at its original location.
Given the flourishing population and presence of the hotels, it wasn’t surprising that the area provided the first of the northern suburb’s sporting attractions.
Boxing Day of 1848 saw the first “Plenty River Races” at the Plough Inn Hotel. The meeting (advertised for a couple of weeks beforehand) was described as well conducted and without incident other than a broken arm suffered by Mr. Lang, the local butcher, who had a tumble from his horse in the steeplechase.
“Without incident” was probably significant given that many of the meetings on Boxing Day became somewhat rough-house affairs as the locals let their hair down after a more-religiously based Christmas Day than many now observe. The main race of the day was the Plough Inn Cup of £25, a very healthy sum for a small country meeting.
By contrast, meetings closer to Melbourne were well-established at St. Kilda and Brighton, with the St. Kilda meeting boasting a top prize of just £20, albeit for four different events over two days. The only meeting at Flemington over the Christmas period was at on New Year’s Day when the St. Leger, then the richest race on the calendar, carried prize money of 100 sovereigns.
Advertisements in The Argus for the Plenty River meeting of the following year revealed that the Plough Inn was in Plenty Road in Mill Park, the district drawing its name after Alfred Hurlstone’s flourmill, later removed to Wood Street in Preston and then to Plenty Road in South Preston.
Stewards listed for the meeting were Mr. Wilson and Mr. James Edgar, the Clerk, Mr. C. Walker and the Treasurer, Mr. E. Butler. The advertisement for entries suggested, “a dinner will be provided at the Plough Inn”.
The previews of the second meeting predicted the races would become an annual event, a suggestion that as in many cases was “the kiss of death”.
Despite later meetings at the two Preston (or Irish Town) hotels of the 1850s, the Rose, Thistle and Shamrock and the Preston Arms, both were “left in the shade” in terms of both the establishment of the premises and the organisation of a much earlier race meeting by their cousins even further to the north.
Outside of the central Melbourne area and William’s Town, one of the first areas to attract settlers in the Port Phillip District was the flats of the Plenty River, not too many miles to the north of Preston and a district that was to see the Plenty-road later become a main road.
The Plenty district attracted both farmers aware of the rich alluvial soil and a few gold prospectors hopeful of making a quick killing. As in many ways of life, it was the conservative, hard-working farmers that won the day, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t kick up their heels occasionally and by at least 1842, the area had two primitive hotels, both of which survive today, although one not at its original location.
Given the flourishing population and presence of the hotels, it wasn’t surprising that the area provided the first of the northern suburb’s sporting attractions.
Boxing Day of 1848 saw the first “Plenty River Races” at the Plough Inn Hotel. The meeting (advertised for a couple of weeks beforehand) was described as well conducted and without incident other than a broken arm suffered by Mr. Lang, the local butcher, who had a tumble from his horse in the steeplechase.
“Without incident” was probably significant given that many of the meetings on Boxing Day became somewhat rough-house affairs as the locals let their hair down after a more-religiously based Christmas Day than many now observe. The main race of the day was the Plough Inn Cup of £25, a very healthy sum for a small country meeting.
By contrast, meetings closer to Melbourne were well-established at St. Kilda and Brighton, with the St. Kilda meeting boasting a top prize of just £20, albeit for four different events over two days. The only meeting at Flemington over the Christmas period was at on New Year’s Day when the St. Leger, then the richest race on the calendar, carried prize money of 100 sovereigns.
Advertisements in The Argus for the Plenty River meeting of the following year revealed that the Plough Inn was in Plenty Road in Mill Park, the district drawing its name after Alfred Hurlstone’s flourmill, later removed to Wood Street in Preston and then to Plenty Road in South Preston.
Stewards listed for the meeting were Mr. Wilson and Mr. James Edgar, the Clerk, Mr. C. Walker and the Treasurer, Mr. E. Butler. The advertisement for entries suggested, “a dinner will be provided at the Plough Inn”.
The previews of the second meeting predicted the races would become an annual event, a suggestion that as in many cases was “the kiss of death”.
The Plough Inn is known to have been in existence as least as early as 1842 when the publican was shown as James Coulstock, a member of a family prominent in much of the early history of the area. “The Plenty – a Centenary History of the Whittlesea Shire” published in 1975 provides a couple of hints as to where the Plough Inn was situated, but perhaps muddies the water a little as to the hotel’s origins.
According to the book, the Coulstock family purchased four lots of land not long after the original sales of 1838 and disposed of two parcels in 1847, including one where “… the primitive Plough Inn rose with Edward Butler as the first licensee …”. The second lot was sold to William Cleeland, the pair of properties “… lined the lane that led to John McKimmie’s place”.
The book also claims that when toll gates were introduced into the district in 1854 to help fund the costs of road maintenance, the northernmost was alongside the Plough Inn.
The race meeting seems to have been a cooperative affair, the James Edgar listed as a steward was the publican of the Bridge Inn Hotel, also known to have existed from at least 1842 with the Port Phillip Directory of that year showing “Daniel Cummin, Innkeeper, Bridge Inn Hotel, River Plenty”. This hotel also shows in early records as being at “the Plenty River” but was in South Morang and from what can be traced, probably on the site of today’s hotel of the same name.
Racing disappeared from the Plough Inn until 1860, when another meeting was held. By then the hotel claimed to be in Thomastown, a name that had sprang up during the 1850s after several families of that name settled in the district. Oddly enough there was another meeting scheduled for Epping just three days later with one or two officials including two Cleeland brothers common to both, but sadly no indication of exactly where the races were held.
The Bridge Inn remains on the original site after several reconstructions and being known at various times as the Plenty, Morang and South Morang Hotel. Although later rebuilt in a location to the west of the original site, the Plough Inn’s name seems to have remained more or less intact except for a (fortunately) brief period between 1866 and 1868 when it was known for some reason as the Will-Will-Wook Hotel.
The discovery of the 1848 advertisements puts to rest a mistaken belief of some historians that Mill Park took its name from the property established in the 1860s by Henry”Money” Miller, Victoria’s richest man. Although Miller’s property was by far the most prominent feature of the district, the original “Mill Park” was taken after the establishment by the Hurlstone family of a mill for crushing the wheat grown on the surrounding lands. The Hurlstone mill was later moved to Wood Street in Preston and then to Plenty Road in South Preston.
Image: The Argus 9 November, 1849
