It’s hard to fathom the strong grip on the hearts of the population which bringing together a few horses for a series of handicaps and jumps meets across the country could engender – but the success of the Lal Lal Turf Club in creating a race meeting to rival the Melbourne Cup is unique in our history.

The meetings, which were held from the 1860s until the demise of the turf club in 1941, were so popular that a special Victorian Railways branch line was built to take the punters, picnickers and partygoers to the racecourse.

A new book by historians Mark Cauchi and Michael Guiney called Picnics at the Falls details the astonishing history of the popularity of race meetings around Ballarat from the time of the rushes to the period between the World Wars.

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Ballarat was in the curiously rare situation of having four racecourses, each with its own rail branch line: Ballarat Turf Club at Dowling Forest, Burrumbeet, Bungaree and Lal Lal.

By comparison, Geelong had a single branch line to its course.

The evolution of these race meetings from back paddock hack races where a rider could be easily injured or killed to events which attracted upwards of 30,000 to 40,000 people and required the building of rail lines is traced in detail in the book which, Mark Cauchi says, took hundreds of hours of research in the Public Records Office (PROV) and the State Library of Victoria.

Cauchi says his writing partner Michael Guiney is one of Australia’s leading rail historians, and has spent 30 years working at the PROV. The pair have previously written a book on the races and rails at Bungaree, but Cauchi says their latest work on Lal Lal is much larger, given its history.

And what a history it is. In its heyday, the race meetings at Lal Lal were regarded as the ‘second Flemington’ of the colony. At a time where every tiny town and hamlet had a picnic race meeting each year, from Wallace to Meredith, the meeting at Lal Lal attracted not only punters, but picnickers and partygoers, parish groups and publicans. Its falls were a primary attraction to families willing to travel  miles around.

At its peak meeting in 1888, 130 years ago almost to the day, the New Year’s meeting at Lal Lal attracted a crowd nearing 40,000. As in the previous years, since the construction of the railway line in 1885, some 10,000 of those booked and travelled by train – of which 22 were required to move the crowds safely and effectively.

Ballarat - Special trains consisting of seated and unseated trucks will run from Ballarat to the racecourse platform, commencing at 9 am, and continuing at short intervals till 2.15 pm. On the return journey trains will leave Lal Lal Racecourse platform for Ballarat, commencing at 4 pm, continuing at short intervals till 7.45 pm. The specials will not stop at Ballarat East, and passengers will not be booked there. A special train, consisting of seated and unseated trucks, will leave Gordons at 9.40 am for Lal Lal Racecourse platform, picking up at all roadside stations. On the return journey passengers for Gordons line will be taken into Ballarat by specials and thence to their destination by specials leaving Ballarat for Gordons at 6.50 and 8.30 pm.

Victorian Government Gazette, December 1885.

But they were not ‘trains’ as we know them today. Instead, due to a lack of rolling stock and indeed preparation and a willingness to invest, the majority of the poor punters were forced into open firewood and goods transport wagons, buffeted by wind, engine soot and severe overcrowding.

Ticket sales were commonly overbooked. First class passengers ended up crushed into the open wagons, and according to newspaper reports, there was some misbehaviour.

As usual human beings were unmercifully crammed and crushed into wood, coal, sheep, and cattle trucks, and some of these were as filthy as possible to be, grease being apparently considered a necessity for the journey. Even dirty trucks and bad accommodation, however, was not sufficient to please the railway officials, for in one instance, after hundreds had been packed into a train the trucks were locked, and the unfortunate occupants kept waiting at the station for about three quarters of an hour before a start was made.

The Ballarat Evening Post, 1885.

Nevertheless, the beauty of the setting with the Lal Lal Falls (when they were flowing and not dammed) meant the race meeting was only part of the entertainments offered. The celebrated artist and novelist Norman Lindsay described the Lal Lal race day in his book The Cousin From Fiji:

Festival began when the train deposited them at an open siding close to the racecourse, with the grounds about it given over to an imported tradition of a village fair. It was noisy with the tub-thumped hurdy-gurdy of a merry-go-round, raucous with cries of sideshow spruikers, and bright with women’s dresses and painted posters advertising fat women, dwarfs, giants, two-headed calves and trick illusionists, with swing boats sailing high above the tent tops. Racing was going on in the course beyond, and a flash of jockeys’ silk could be glimpsed over the heads of a crowd.

Cauchi and Guiney have discovered other delights on offer in their research –  the usual musical band playing popular selections of the day, merry-go-rounds and other children’s rides, Punch and Judy puppets, a circus, swinging boats, shooting galleries, boxing matches, wrestling, snake charming, Indian jugglers, freak shows, tightrope walking across the gorge, and of course the ever popular publican’s booths.

So what happened to this fabulous event to rival the Melbourne Cup? How has it become a faint memory, with even very few photographs to mark it?

Cauchi and Guiney lay the blame at the feet of both the commissioners of the Victorian Railway and the board of the Lal Lal Turf Club.

The inappropriate and unsympathetic rolling stock provided by the railways was a major factor. Not only was it used in all weather, it was rarely clean and often dangerous, with broken bones suffered by those using it, and the danger of fire from the engine firebox embers. It was roundly loathed by all who travelled in it, to be treated like farm stock.

The Lal Lal Turf Club of the day must also bear some of the blame. The club was an apathetic manager, scheduling a mere 10 events other than the New Year’s Day meeting in 66 years. They were also financially irresponsible, often running events at a loss, and failed to pay trainers to bring their horses to the racecourse.

The drought of the 1890s dried up the Lal Lal Falls and made it less attractive as a picnic venue. At the same time, Australian Rules football was beginning its slow climb to organised prominence. While racing has maintained its place as a favoured sport, there were other pastimes more popular.

Eventually the branch line was abandoned, the sleepers taken up for use elsewhere, and in 1998 the state government sold the last of the railway land, which had subsequently been a public reserve, at auction. Lal Lal’s great race meet passed into history.

Picnics at the Falls: A History of the Lal Lal Racecourse and its Railway by Mark Cauchi and Michael Guiney can be purchased through the authors. Copies of the book are available directly from the authors at the price of $48.00 plus $10.00 handling and shipping to locations within Australia. To purchase multiple copies, please enquire for a specific shipping price. If you would also like a copy of the authors’ first book in the series, The Bungaree Racecourse Railway, both books are offered at the special package price of $62.00 plus $15.00 handling and shipping to locations within Australia. Orders can be placed by sending an email request or by contacting either of the authors by phone. All books will be mailed to purchasers by Registered Post. Email: lal.lal.races@gmail.com Michael: 0408 034 118 Mark: 0417 157 339