Kembla Grange is a suburb west of

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

, in the

City of Wollongong The City of Wollongong is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the Tasman Sea, the Princes Motorway and the Illawarra railway line. Locate ...

. At the , it had a population of 1,452. The Kembla Grange Racecourse and its railway station are located there.

History

Kembla Grange takes its name from Mount Kembla, which was believed to be an Aboriginal term "wild game hunting". The area around what is known as Kembla Grange was originally known as Dunlop Vale after John Dunlop Vale. In 1829, Governor

Ralph Darling General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH (1772 – 2 April 1858) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. His period of governorship was unpopular, with Darling being broadly regarded as a tyrant. He introd ...

instructed Surveyor Knapp to survey 10 lots of 100 acres for war veterans. In 1840, Gerard Gerard named the parcel "Kembla Grange". In the same decade, it became a leading area for dairy farming. In the late 19th century, the railway line linked through Kembla Grange and with the opening of the railway station in 1890, its railway platform was mentioned in timetables. On 26 August 1962, the Kembla Grange Speedway opened. It was located at () and held racing for many classes, including sprint cars, sedans and stock cars. The venue hosted

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

and held the

New South Wales Individual Speedway Championship The New South Wales Individual Speedway Championship is a Motorcycle speedway championship held annually in New South Wales to determine the NSW State champion. The event is organised by the NSW Solo Riders' Association and is sanctioned by Mot ...

twice in 1962 to 1963. On 18 December 1976, the Kembla Grange Racecourse opened (adjacent to the Kembla Grange Speedway track) when the Illawarra Turf Club was formed and conducted its first racemeeting. On 3 June 1983, the Speedway track closed.

References

{{Wollongong suburbs Suburbs of Wollongong