jockeys

Women were involved with horse racing in Australia by the 1890s. Since then, they have owned horses, trained horses, gambled on horses and attended the races. Their participation in the sport was hampered because of a lack of facilities and participation rates were not as high as other sports. In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant and white. The study found that 183 participated in sport. The third most popular sport that these women participated in was horse riding, with 38 having played the sport.[9] The ninth most popular sport that these women participated in was horse racing, with 3 having played the sport. The sport was tied with billiards, chess, fishing, field hockey, croquet, squash, table tennis and shooting. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_horse_racing_in_Australia

AN OUTBACK LEGEND Horses have been a part of our Outback lifestyles for decades—whether mustering livestock, transporting goods, or racing down the track, equines have marched alongside us in creating the region we know and love today. They’ve worked with us, traveled with us, and provided some of the most unbelievable moments in sporting history. One such horse that has marked our region on the map is Miss Petty, the Outback racehorse who’d earned herself the title ‘Queen of the Track’ with 22 long years of holding the Australasian record for most consecutive wins straight. While not on the track-winning trophies, Miss Petty was in the paddocks and the open land, mustering like she’d been born to cut cattle or carrying kids on gentle trail rides like a seasoned school horse. It’s safe to say, Miss petty was a jack-of-all-trades and certainly a horse we’ll never forget! Source: www.redridgeinteriorqueensland.com/miss-petty-bush-salute

THE BIRDSVILLE RACES, QUEENSLAND This iconic outback event started in 1882 and is the most romanticized of all. People travel from everywhere to reach the remote little speck on the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert - by 4WD, by plane, by caravan, by truck, by bus, by private aircraft, by horse, and even by camel. The horses are hidden somewhere in an ochre cloud of dust at the furthest end of the racecourse. The crowd yells for their favorites, drinks more beer, and finds any tiny patch of refuge from the burning sun they can. "There's nothing like this in the world," the bloke next to me sighs happily as he downs probably his 10th tinnie of the day, his scrap of bet paper in his hand. He's right. This tiny town of 115 people suddenly swells to host more than 8000, sleeping in the lone Birdsville Hotel, the caravan park, a newly erected tented camp, the private mini-cities put up by visiting tour companies, and in swags thrown out on the ground. Source: www.traveller.com.au/best-places-to-watch-country-horse-r...

nla.gov.au/nla.obj-430340710/view?sectionId=nla.obj-47015... - this pic appeared in Pix on 7th January, 1949, in a feature article on the recent picnic race meeting held at Baroma Station, near Croppa Creek, in Northern NSW... Pix's caption: 'AMATEUR JOCKEY BRUCE HUNT, son of local grazier, weighs-in after winning a race at Croppa Creek picnic meeting. Weighing room was an open iron shed.' * Croppa Creek is near Moree/Warialda/Boggabilla... A number of other pics in this SLNSW Pix Croppa Creek race meeting series also appeared in the Pix article... trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/181401386 - North West Champion, 29th November, 1948...report on the race meeting here...

www.deluxecafemoree.com.au/89-year-old-former-hoop-bruce-... - Bill Poulos' 2017 article on 'hoop' (jockey) Bruce Hunt...hopefully this link will hang around for a while...

covid convict 👍 have updated caption