The Adelaide Hunt Club is an Australian
fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...
club founded in the 1840s.
History
Originally called The Adelaide Hounds, the club was founded in
Adelaide in the early 1840s.
[Adelaide Hunt Club.] As early as 3 July 1841, the Governor of South Australia
Sir George Grey KCB along with about 25 horsemen, hounds and ladies in carriages met for a day’s hunting, on this day a
wild dog was the quarry. Without foxes to hunt, wild dogs,
kangaroos and
emus were the early quarry.
[Brown.]
Due to lack of support, hunting declined in Adelaide and the pack was dispersed in the 1850s but was revived in 1869 by a group of wealthy sportsmen led by
William Blackler
William Blackler (1827 – 26 June 1896) was a noted horse breeder and sportsman in the early days of the British colony of South Australia.
History
Blackler was born at Newton Downs, Devonshire, in 1827, a son of Richard Blackler (c. 1791 – 3 ...
, who imported sufficient
hounds to form a pack.
The first hunt with his pack was held on 24 May of that year and attracted many interested huntsmen and spectators.
In 1871, after a dispute with the Club, Blackler withdrew his support, and at the instigation of James A. Ellery passed his pack to the newly-formed South-East (later Mount Gambier) Hunt Club.
Deer hunting was attempted on several occasions, but provided rather pedestrian sport and the most interesting riding was provided by
drag hunting, where an
aniseed scent trail was dragged over a course guaranteed to present challenges to the abilities of horse and rider.
[
The club is very closely linked with the city’s history with events such as the annual ball and steeplechase being social highlights of the new colony. The pack was originally kennelled at various locations on the ]Adelaide Plains
The Adelaide Plains (Kaurna name Tarndanya) is a plain in South Australia lying between the coast (Gulf St Vincent) on the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges on the east. The southernmost tip of the plain is in the southern seaside suburbs of Ade ...
although urban expansion meant they had to move in the late-1900s. The club's current kennels are located at Woodside
Woodside may refer to:
Places and buildings Australia
*Woodside, South Australia, a town
*Woodside, Victoria, a town
Canada
*Woodside National Historic Site, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King
*Woodside, Nova Scotia, a neighborho ...
in the Adelaide Hills.
Officials
Masters (full title: Master of the Foxhounds, MFH) of the Adelaide Hounds included:
*1844: C. Campbell
*1847: Thomas Shayle
*1851, 1852: William van Sittart
*1855: Arthur Malcom
*1862: W. van Sittart
Masters of the Adelaide Hunt Club include:
:(Elections were held around April of each year)
*1869: William Blackler
William Blackler (1827 – 26 June 1896) was a noted horse breeder and sportsman in the early days of the British colony of South Australia.
History
Blackler was born at Newton Downs, Devonshire, in 1827, a son of Richard Blackler (c. 1791 – 3 ...
*1870: E. G. Blackmore
*1871: William Blackler
*1872: H. E. Downer
Henry Edward Downer (22 March 1836 – 4 August 1905) was a South Australian politician. He was a brother of Sir John Downer and George Downer, and a noted lawyer and businessman.
Henry Edward Downer was born in Portsmouth, England and emigrat ...
*1873: Seth Ferry
Seth "The Master" Ferry (25 May 1839 – 20 October 1932) was a prominent rider, dealer, owner and trainer of racehorses in South Australia.
Biography
Seth Ferry was born at "Providence House", Ponders End, Lower Edmonton, Middlesex, where his pa ...
Harry Bickford
A. M. Bickford and Sons was one of the first manufacturing chemists in South Australia and until 1930 one of the State's most significant family owned companies. In 1930, they amalgamated with half a dozen other similar Australian companies t ...
*1883–1884: James Hay (son of Alexander Hay)
*1885: E. G. Blackmore
*1886–1892: Allan Baker (son of John Baker John Baker or Jon Baker may refer to:
Military figures
*John Baker (American Revolutionary War) (1731–1787), American Revolutionary War hero, for whom Baker County, Georgia was named
*John Baker (RAF officer) (1897–1978), British air marshal
...
)
*1893–1897: Frank H. Downer
*1898–1900: John Tennant Love
*1901–1904: H. C. Cave
*1905–1906: R. A. Sanders
*1907–1909: Carew Reynell
*1910–1912: W. S. Bright
*1913: K. Lister Colley, grandson of Richard Bowen Colley
Richard Bowen Colley (13 December 1819 – 28 May 1875) was the first mayor of Glenelg, South Australia.
Colley was born in London and visited South Australia in the 1830s, then emigrated with his family on the ''Competitor'', arriving in Octobe ...
*1914–1915: Ernest M. Luxmoore
*1919–1921: E. M. Luxmoore
*1922: J. J. Mortimer
*1923: E. M. Luxmoore
*1924–1928: Paul Teesdale Smith
*1929–1932: W. P. A. Lapthorne
*1933–1936: E. M. Luxmoore
*1937–1939: Francis C. Bickford
*1940: E. M. Luxmoore
:Recess during WWII
*1946–1948: Tom Downer
*1949: T. H. Hawkes
*1950–1951: Keith Frayne
*1952–1954: James R. Balharry
Race meetings
The first Hunt Club race meeting was held at the Thebarton Course on 2 October 1869. Races held were: Hunt Club Cup, Amateur Flat Race, Hunters' Stakes and Hurry Skurry.
The meeting was held at the Adelaide Old Racecourse from 1870 to 1874, then Morphettville
Morphettville is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Marion.
The northern part of the suburb is bounded by the Glenelg tram line, and fully occupied by the Morphettville Racecourse (horseracing track). The tram barn storage a ...
from 1875 to 1884; then the S.A.J.C. became insolvent and Morphettville was mortgaged and the Hunt Club held its meetings at the Old Course 1885 then back to Morphettville 1886 to 1914,
Victoria Park in 1915, then a break until 1919.
References
Bibliography
Adelaide Hunt Club website, ''www.adelaidehuntclub.com.au''
retrieved 2 October 2016.
retrieved 2 October 2016.
* Brown, Judith M., ''Town life in pioneer South Australia'', Rigby, 1980, {{ISBN, 9780727013347.
1840s establishments in Australia
Sports clubs established in the 1840s
Sporting clubs in Adelaide
Fox hunts in Australia
Hunting organizations