Written by Michelle McLean.
Whilst exploring other aspects of local history, I came across a reference to the Eumemmering races and my curiosity took over.
The Eumemmering Races are mentioned in many local histories and there are newspaper articles in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal from the era, which report the race results and other snippets. (available on Trove)
The Eumemmering races were held at a track adjacent to the Eumemmering Hotel, which was located on the same site that the Prince Mark Hotel now occupies – the corner of Princes Highway and Power Road.
The Eumemmerring Hotel was “just one mile east of Dandenong” and became famous not only for “its readiness to quench the thirst, but also because of the adjacent racecourse.” The course was laid out on 70 acres and was known locally as “Hennessy’s course”. Hennessy was Michael Hennessy, the publican of the Eumemmerring Hotel who along with Henry Wilson, was the race starter on the Eumemmerring Races program. Hennessy also took on the role of Treasurer for the races. (Call back yesterday, pg. 43)
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From what I can discover, the racetrack was known to have been running in 1851, when Victoria suffered the Black Thursday bushfires on 6th February. “From Bullock tracks to bitumen” (pg. 72) noted that “men had gathered for a race meeting, when fire swept down on the course, driving the sportsmen back to defend their respective homes. So fierce was the fire that the Hotel was practically the only building left standing the in neighbourhood.”
Knowing that it was already a popular course at that time, we can assume it had already been running for a number of years at that stage, so its likely creation and use for public race meetings likely date back to the 1840s, if not earlier.
Other notable Eumemmering Races reports included:
Race meeting - June 5, 1878. The Maiden Plate and the District Race was won by the same mare “Victoria”, owned by GK Dunbar, beating his rival JK Dunbar’s bay “The Demon”. ("Reminiscences of early Dandenong, pg. 97)
Race meetings were well advertised in the adjacent hotel as well as the two local newspapers: The Dandenong Advertiser and The South Bourke and Mornington Journal.
Boxing Day races were a regular fixture, and race meetings were also periodically organised for other holidays, including St Patrick’s Day. The race meet moved to VRC rules somewhere between 1885 and 1888 (with Michael Hennessy calling the shots on that).
A regular visitor to the races was Member of Parliament for Cranbourne, Dr. Louis Lawrence Smith MD, who not only placed bets but advertised his services on the side. This included regular half page ads on the front of the South Bourke and Mornington Journal.
Michael Hennessy died in August 1889 and his estate was not great, indicating that he did not make a fortune from the races or his hotel. The estate valued a total of 944.0.0 pounds.
The racetrack was also used for more than horse racing. For terrier coursing with rabbits was run, with handbills being printed to publicise the event to local residents and racecourse visitors. (Call back yesterday., pg. 45)
Even with the passing of Michael Hennessy, the races continued, with records of them still being held in 1910.
First sign of wholesale change came when the Lace Factory from William A. Smith was built on what is now Princes Highway, just north of Eumemmering Creek in 1951. It was moved from the UK after the original factory was bombed in World War 2. When new factories were being constructed in the area in 1957, a construction worker dug up a sovereign and two half-sovereign coins minted in 1900, which a local identified as being some of those lost by a rider during a race, with only a few coins recovered at the time.
The races were finally stopped somewhere before the 1950s, as reported by one reader in the Dandenong Journal in 1957, due to “the ringing-in of horses and ponies under any name but their own registered ones.” This reader’s reminiscences prompted them to author this poem. 
Anonymous (Call back yesterday pg. 90-91).
The Dandenong area had a number of courses operating in the 1800’s, including closer to the Dandenong township and at Bangholme. Now however, the closest tracks are Sandown (course opened in 1965) , Cranbourne (first meet in 1867, in the same location as the current racecourse) and Pakenham (Pakenham Racing Club formed in 1875). (Country.racing.com)
References
From Bullock tracks to bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick. Historical Society of Berwick Shire: Pakenham, 1962.
G.F.R (George Fenton Roultson) Reminiscences of the Early Days of Dandenong. Dandenong & District Historical Society: Pakenham, 1935.
Trove, 2022. [online] National Library of Australia. https://trove.nla.gov.au
Uhl, Jean “Call back yesterday: Eumemmering Parish. Lowden Publishing: Kilmore (Vic), 1972.
Victoria Racing Club, 2022. Home. [online] Country Racing Victoria. https://country.racing.com/
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