Charles Brentani The Flemington Cup 1849 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of BP Australia Limited, Governor, 1984. (National Gallery of Victoria)
Alexander Road and Debney’s Paddock near the bridge over the Moonee Ponds Creek. High on the hill above was landowner James Watson’s homestead Flemington House, later rebuilt into a great mansion by pastoralist Hugh Glass. Watson, the first colonial owner of the property (but not of the racecourse, which remained Crown Land) had called his whole estate Flemington in honour of the Scottish birthplace of his wife, Elizabeth Rose. Travellers by road from the city centre to “The Melbourne Race Course” had to pass this way. It made sense for Watson to build a hotel just over the bridge, advertised at the time of opening as “Half Way to the Race Course”. The first landlord of the Flemington Inn was a brawny young Scot, James Dunbar. He marked the opening of the hotel in April 1848 with a couple of horse races in the adjacent paddocks. The feature event was a hurdle race – the winner receiving “a first rate saddle and bridle”.
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