Queenstown Oval, known colloquially as ''The Gravel'' or ''The Rec'' (for Recreation Ground), is a sports arena in
Queenstown, located on the
west coast of
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
. Built in 1895, it is infamous for its
gravel
Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gr ...
playing surface, and is used primarily for
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
, while also hosting cricket and athletics.
The ground has a main concrete grandstand and a total capacity of 5,000.
For nearly a century, Queenstown Oval was the grand final venue for the now defunct Western Tasmanian Football Association. It is currently the home ground for the local Queenstown Crows in the
Darwin Football Association.
Queenstown Crows are a 1994-merger of Queenstown Blues and Lyell-Gormanston clubs, both clubs were previously formed as merged entities (Queenstown Blues resulted from the 1977 merger of City Magpies and Smelters Robins, while the Lyell and Gormanston clubs amalgamated in 1976).
The ground was the first in Tasmania to have a siren installed to signal the start and end of each quarter. It was borrowed from the
Mt Lyell Mines.
Inducted into the
Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame in 2007,
the ground was due for updating in the 2010s and was part of
The Unconformity festival in 2016.
There is a subtle reference to the ground's gravel playing surface in
Jamie Cooper's ''Tasmania's Team of the Century'' painting, with gravel visible in the knees of Queenstown-born Australian football legend
Ian Stewart.
[JCAP]
Tasmania's Team of the Century
, retrieved 25 September 2010
References
{{Reflist
Sports venues in Tasmania
Australian rules football grounds
Queenstown, Tasmania
1895 establishments in Australia
Sports venues completed in 1895
Tasmanian Heritage Register
Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees