CHAPTER LIII. SPORTS AND PASTIMES.
SYNOPSIS:— The First Races in Melbourne.—" Collar Grinning."—The Second Race Meeting. —The First Race Meeting at Flemington.—Formation of the Port Phillip Turf Club. —The Meeting of 1841 .—Subsequent Meetings to 1846.— The Melbourne Meeting.—Petrel and " the Polka."—Subsequent Meetings to i8j/.—" Ln Memoriam " of Retrospect.—Venery. —The First Hunt.—•" Old Tom Brown."—Mr. T. H. Pyke.— Mr. Lsaac Hinds.—A The First Pack of Hounds. —The Corio Club.—Death of Mr. John Perks. —The Werribee Hunt Club.— Mr. James Henderson. — The Hounds at Emerald Hill.
THE TURF.
k ISTORY hath it that Melizyus, a king of Thessaly, was the first to tame horses for the use of m a n , " A n d he himselfe didfirstthe horse bestride;"
But history knoweth not, and is silent as to the personnel of the first horse-breaker in Port Phillip. Given the proverbial germs of an Australian township, the water-hole, forge, store and grog-shop, amongst all British-born - colonizers, these are usually succeeded by a Wesleyan Chapel, a Temperance Society, a race club, or cricket club ; and so it was in the instance I a m writing of. T h e Wesleyans and the Teetotallers got the start of the Sporting fraternity, for in the beginning of 1838 a kind of association was improvised, which dubbed itself the " Melbourne Race Club," and its first step was a preliminary canter towards the inauguration of those " Isthmian G a m e s " which aftewards became so racey of Port Phillip soil, and have since placed Victoria second to no other off-shoot of the Mother-country in that sport which has maintained a popularity in every clime and age, drifting back as far as a glimmer of history can be found to light the way. "Johnny Fawkner" commenced the role of the demagogue in this remote era, and he so far patronised the club as to permit it to hold its first gathering at Fawkner's Hotel, on the 15 th January, when a Mr. Henry Allen was voted to the Chair. Business was commenced by a declaration that it was right and proper to initiate annual races, and the following office-bearers were elected nem. con. :— Stewards : Messrs. Henry Arthur and AVilliam W o o d ; Secretary and Treasurer: Mr. Francis Nodin ; Clerk of the Course : Mr. David Morley. It was decided that the races should c o m e off on the 6th and 7th March, and the stakes to be competed for were : — F I R S T D A Y . — T o w n Plate—25 sovs. ; entrance, 1 sov.; distance, 2 miles; heats; the weights varying from 8st. 61b. for three-year-olds to 9St. i2lb. for six yearers and aged. Ladies' P u r s e — O f 20 sovs.; 1 sov. entrance; gentlemen riders; distance one mile; heats; and weights from 9St. i2lb. to 12SL ; adapted to the ages from three to six years and over. S E C O N D D A Y . — T h e Hunter Stakes—15 sov.; entrance, 1 sov.; gentlemen riders; heats; one mile and a distance, with five leaps of four feet in height; catch weights. Beaten Horses — 10s., post entry; one mile and a distance; heats; T o w n Plate weights. T h e following rules of management were agreed t o : — N o horses to be entered unless the real property of a subscriber of £2 to the race fund. T h e Clerk was authorized to superintend the marking out of the course and preparing it for the races; and the members of the Club were to dine at Fawkner's Hotel on the evening of the day upon which the Hunter Stakes were disposed of. All horses were to be entered for "the three first races" on the 5th March, between 7 and 10 p.m. Winning horses were to pay ,£1 to the Clerk of the Course "for the use and porterage of the scales and weights," and disputes (if any) were to be settled on the course by the Stewards, whose decision was to be final. Great were the preparations m a d e for this interesting " Maiden " event, and the young m e n and maidens of
