Beech Forest Grandstand.

Posted byPeter McHughPosted inForests

Most of the large and significant trees in Victoria were found in the mountain ash forests of the Otways, Strzelecki Ranges and the Central Highlands.

This enormous tree stump was converted into a Grandstand at the Beech Forest turf club in the Otways for their first race meeting in Easter 1893.

The Melbourne Cup had been introduced earlier in 1861 by the Victorian Turf Club.

The racecourse was set out on fairly flat land at Ditchley Park (not far from the existing football oval). There was a railway siding for spectators to alight from Colac and the steam train also pulled carriages for visiting racehorses.

Legend has it that bushfires regularly destroyed the steps, railings and roof of the stand so they were repeatedly renewed.

The Grandstand under construction. Source: SLV
The Grandstand under construction. Source: SLV
Stump at Beech Forest 1893 which doubled as a grandstand. Photo: SLV
Annual Beech Forest race meeting 1904, Photo: Victorian School of Forestry, Creswick Campus Historical Collection
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/cchc/items/show/5146
Flynn, John. (1912). People gathered on and around a platform built over a large tree stump. Link to other photos of the same stump.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142375657/view
The Colac Herald, 31 January 1893. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87655162
FCRPA Collection

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