Cluden Racecourse
historic site in Queensland, Australia
Cluden Racecourse is a heritage-listed racecourse at 1 Racecourse Road, Cluden, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Walter Howard Tunbridge and built in 1896 by Mr Reid. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
History
Townsville was founded in 1864 by partners John Melton Black and Robert Towns as a port and commercial centre for the pastoral industry north of the Burdekin. The Port of Townsville was gazetted as a port of entry in 1865 and grew quickly. The first sporting institution formed was the Burdekin and Flinders Turf Club in May 1866. The patron was the Governor of Queensland, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, who supported horse racing as a means of improving breeding and with an eye to the development of a Queensland cavalry. The inaugural president was Robert Towns. The first race meeting was a three-day event held in mid-August 1866 with substantial prizes being offered. Early meetings were held in several locations, including Cleveland Park in the Garbutt area and Hermit Park.
The public source identifies “Cluden Racecourse” as historic site in Queensland, Australia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cluden, Racecourse and historic.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Cluden Racecourse”, the useful work is to connect “historic site in Queensland, Australia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23641197. Authority coordinates are -19.322, 146.821. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1992, 1864 and 1865.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Cluden Racecourse”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Cluden Racecourse primary sources, Cluden Racecourse archive and Cluden research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cluden Racecourse”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Cluden Racecourse” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.