SLNSW 7485 Polo at Kensington Racecourse

Anzac Corps Memorial at UNSW Kensington campus

Kensington racecourse is a now-closed pony racecourse on the current site of the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

in the suburb of Kensington, Sydney, Australia. The course was in operation between 1893 and 1942, and during the Boer War and World Wars I and II it was taken over as a military camp.Development of UNSW Kensington Campus Exhibition
Records and Archives Office, UNSW. Many of the first

Anzacs ''Anzacs'' (named for members of the all volunteer army formations) is a 1985 Australian five-part television miniseries set in World War I. The series follows the lives of a group of young Australian men who enlist in the 8th Battalion (Austr ...

trained at Kensington Racecourse in 1914 before leaving for

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and Gallipoli. An extensive account of the training in late 1914 appears in the diary of

Archie Barwick Archie Albert Barwick (7 March 1890 – 28 January 1966) was an Australian farmer and soldier known for his diaries of World War I. His set of diaries are recognised as one of the most extensive and well written first hand accounts of military ...

. A migrant hostel was located on the site in the late 1940s. Construction of the University began in 1951. The Old Tote building of the racecourse survived and in the 1960s and 1970s was the home of the

Old Tote Theatre Company The Old Tote Theatre Company (1963–1978) was a New South Wales theatre company that began as the standing acting and theatre company of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). It was the predecessor to the Sydney Theatre Company ...

. It is now the Figtree Theatre in the grounds of UNSW.

References

Former buildings and structures in Sydney Sports venues in Sydney Migrant hostels in Australia Kensington, New South Wales 1893 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1893 1942 disestablishments in Australia {{horseracing-venue-stub