ASCOTA history of

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1829 – 1904 1906 – 1998

The suburb of Ascot is a narrow strip of land along the southern bank of the Swan River. It was named after Ascot Racecourse which is located within the suburb.

Previously part of Belmont and Redcliffe, Ascot was officially established on 7 March 1991.

Along with the new estate, Ascot Waters, the suburb is also well known for the landmark chimneys and stacks which were once part of the Bristile factory on Grandstand Road.

For tens of thousands of years, the area now known as Belmont was inhabited by the Noongar Whadjuk People. They knew the Swan River as the Derbal Yerrigan, and the strong connection with Noongar Boodja (Noongar land) remains significant to Aboriginal people today.

1829 Marks the beginning of the Swan River Colony with the arrival of the Parmelia, carrying Governor James Stirling and the first settlers

1830 John Wall Hardey arrives on the Tranby

1835 John Wall Hardey buys Grove Farm in Belmont, but leases it to tenants until 1843

1843 John Wall Hardey moves from York to Grove Farm in Belmont

1848 First race meeting held at Grove Farm, quickly followed by selection of a permanent site for Ascot Racecourse

1885 Railway bridge built over river terminating at a station south of the racecourse

1887 First Prince wins the inaugural Perth Cup by two lengths, collecting £250

1895 Subdivision of Ascot Garden Estate

1897 Construction of Ascot Inn (also known as Belmont Hotel)

1899 First elections for the new Belmont Road Board (an early form of Council)

1904 Invercloy (later known as Nulsen Haven) near Great Eastern Highway is built for John Wilkie

Belmont’s first factory, Kirton’s Patent Pottery Co., opens on Grandstand Road

1906 Kirton’s goes bankrupt, and the factory is acquired by WA Pottery Co

1913 Foundation of Braddock’s Essential Oils distillery near Ascot Inn

1929 Founding of H. L. Brisbane & Co., which takes over WA Pottery’s factory

1935 Guildford Road changes name to Great Eastern Highway

1960 Belmont Road Board becomes the Shire of Belmont

1979 Belmont becomes a City and the Council moved offices from Great Eastern Highway to Wright Street, Cloverdale

1980s Bristile Factory on Grandstand Road ceases production

1982 Parry Field baseball stadium opens. It closed in the mid-1990s for medium-density housing land use.

1991 A new suburb, Ascot, originally part of Belmont and Redcliffe, is officially established

1994 Ascot Waters subdivided into town lots for purchase

1997 Kuljak Island was created in 1997 by dredging two channels as a part ofthe Ascot Waters development. The site was previously a council rubbish tip for 25 years, closing in the early 1980s

1998 Ascot Waters residential marina development officially opened by Premier Richard Court

Aerial image taken in 1953 Cover image: Ascot Racecourse (1940s)

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First Prince was first A determined apprentice

Although the Western Australian Turf Club was formed in 1852, it was not until 1887 that the Perth Cup came into existence. The first Perth Cup carried a prize of 250 pounds ($500), made up of 24 subscriptions of 10 pounds each by members of the club. The Turf Club also contributed 10 pounds towards the race.

The race was first proposed by Alex Forrest, brother of Lord John Forrest, and so it might have been appropriate that the winner of the first Perth Cup should be First Prince, a horse he owned. In those days, most trainers and jockeys were amateurs and First Prince was trained by George Parker, a prominent Perth barrister, and was ridden by George Corbett, who was the Perth City Council Treasurer at the time.

There were 10 starters in the first Perth Cup with First Prince defeating Telephone

by two lengths. Telephone was trained by George Towton, who became one of Belmont’s most famous trainers.

Claiming that Telephone was not himself on the day, Towton challenged Alex Forrest to another race, which First Prince won again. However, Telephone returned the next year as the winner of the Perth Cup, but in circumstances which were very controversial.

On the course, Telephone was beaten into second place by Baron Neckar. There was a protest for interference, but not to Telephone but to Duration, who finished far down the field. The stewards announced that Towton’s horse was the winner even though the interference was to a horse who was unplaced. But the decision was in accordance with the rules, and so Towton won his first Perth Cup.

Perth Cup (1907, M0240-01)

Kalgoorlie Cup (1957, M0069-01)

When jockey Peter Knuckey won the Helena Vale Cup in 1950 on Thunder Leo, no one could have predicted this just a few years before. Prior to becoming a jockey, Peter had walked Belmont barefooted, searching for a trainer to apprentice him.

Coming from a family of business people who never had anything to do with horses, Peter had started work in a city insurance office, and had never ridden a horse in his life.

Although taller than most jockeys, Peter was short and light and very keen to take up the profession. He walked from stable to stable in Belmont seeking a job, but was turned away from every one. “Once, when my feet became too sore, I took off my shoes and socks and continued bare footed,” he said.

Eventually someone suggested he try trainer P. L. Denison’s stable, where an apprentice was needed. Denison offered Peter a position and, fortunately, Peter’s parents gave their consent.

Denison bought a pony and taught Peter the basics of riding. He was given further advice by jockeys and quickly picked up the skills. By 1950 he had been a fully-fledged jockey for more than a year and his win on Thunder Leo, on whom he also won the Hannan’s Handicap, was his sixteenth for that season.

Within a few years Peter won the Perth Cup on Beau Scot and got the nickname

‘Big Race Knuckey’. By the age of 25 he had won many races, including two Perth Cups (and lost another by half a head) and a Kalgoorlie Cup. His success was not limited to Western Australia, since in Sydney he won the Canterbury Park Cup on Seahawk. It was an impressive record by anyone’s standards.

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A century of clay

A landmark in Ascot, the kilns owe a great deal to Frederick Piercy, who following a long-standing tradition of his family spent his life in the pottery business.

The West Australian interviewed him in 1931:

“ I come from an ancient pottery family. My father and his ancestors for over 200 years were pottery proprietors in Yorkshire, where there was a particularly good clay.

I had four brothers, and my father insisted that all of us should follow the same business. When I left England, it was to join one of my brothers, who had established pottery works near Adelaide. We traded as Piercy Brothers for some years, and I came to Guildford in 1894.

When the clay became worked out in Guildford I then went to Belmont, and

was struck with the similarity of the red clay there to the famous terra cotta of the Thames Valley. I then established at Belmont the concern now known as H.L. Brisbane and Co.

We extended our property considerably, to obtain a good deposit of clay equal to almost anything in the British Isles, and have since bored down 30ft. without reaching the bottom of it. No matter how much Perth should grow, we would have enough clay to last at least 100 years.

Proof of the quality of the clay is given by the roof of the lodge of Government House, which we tiled. We were the first to make roofing tiles in Western Australia, and developed an extensive trade in tiles.

In addition, we are now making stoneware sewerage pipes, all sewerage connections and all Bristile products”.

Bristile Factory on Grandstand Road (n.d., M0051-01)

If you live in Ascot, you’ll probably know many of the road names. But do you know the history behind those names?

Carbine Street: Carbine was a famous racehorse, and one the first inductees into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. Most famously, he was the winner of the 1890 Melbourne Cup.

Daly Street: Michael and Tom Daly were both jockeys around 1910. Michael was the licensee of His Majesty’s Hotel, in Perth, and also owned 23 acres of land in Belmont.

Grandstand Road: Named because of the grandstand at the adjacent Ascot Racecourse.

Matheson Road: Named after Alexander Percival Matheson, developer of the Ascot Estate. Originally called Albert Street from 1895, it was changed to Matheson Road in 1907. Alexander owned nearly 800 acres in the area and was a Member of the Legislative Council from 1897 to 1901, and one of the first Senators for Western Australia.

Resolution Drive: Resolution was the Perth Cup winner in 1963, owned by Sir Ernest H Lee-Steere, ridden by Frank Treen and trained by Albert Jordan.

By the river near Ascot Inn (1898, M0194-01)

Did you know…

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Each part of the coat of arms symbolises an aspect of the City of Belmont. The kiln and stack represent brick making and the cog is a symbol for

industry. The wings symbolise flight and the airport, while the horse is the racing industry. The green stands for public space; silver, the sky; and blue is the Swan River. The black swan is the State emblem, and the ducal coronet

around its neck symbolises Belmont’s relationship to WA.

For further information please contact the Belmont Museum on 9477 7450 or email museum@belmont.wa.gov.au

“Proof of the quality of the clay is given by the roof of the lodge of Government House, which we tiled. We were the first to make roofing tiles in Western Australia, and developed an extensive trade in tiles.”Frederick Piercy