Claremont Showground

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Claremont Showground
Centenary pavilion at Claremont showgrounds.jpg
Claremont Showground
Location Claremont, Western Australia
Coordinates 31°58′32″S115°47′08″E / 31.975552°S 115.785504°E / -31.975552; 115.785504 (Claremont Showground) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Public transitAiga railtransportation 25.svg Showgrounds
Aiga railtransportation 25.svg Claremont
Owner Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia [1]
OperatorRoyal Agricultural Society of Western Australia
Capacity 40,000 (Big Day Out 2011) [2]
10,000 (WAFL matches) [3]
Opened1905;119 years ago (1905) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Tenants
Big Day Out (2002-2011, 2013)
Perth Royal Show
Claremont-Cottesloe Football Club (1926)
Claremont Speedway (1927-2000)
Supanova Pop Culture Expo (2008–2013)
Claremont Football Club (2014–2016)

The Claremont Showground near Perth, Western Australia is home to the annual Perth Royal Show. In 1902, 13 hectares (32 acres) of land were reserved in the Perth suburb of Claremont for a new showground to replace the Guildford Showgrounds. The Royal Agricultural Show, of three days, was first held there in October and November 1905. [4]

Contents

History

During World War I and World War II, the showgrounds were used to house and train Australian troops. [5]

In 1929, a pavilion and other features were built for the Western Australia Centenary. [6]

The Claremont Showground is serviced by a special events railway station on the Fremantle line. Opened on 20 September 1995, it has direct connection with the showgrounds. [7] The original Showgrounds Station, opened in 1954, was located 350 metres (1,150 ft) further east with platforms on either side of the line, and required negotiating road crossings to access the showgrounds.

Bruce Campbell Arena

The Bruce Campbell Arena, an enclosed grass field forms the focal point of events at the Showgrounds. [8]

Speedway

From 1927 until 2000, the 586-metre (641-yard) Claremont Speedway operated on a track around the edge of the arena. Its size made it the largest speedway in weekly operation in a state capital in Australia. [9]

With the closure of Claremont, speedway in Perth moved to the 500-metre (550-yard) Perth Motorplex Speedway in Kwinana Beach.

Australian rules football

The arena has in the past been used for Australian rules football matches. In the West Australian Football League (WAFL), Perth won its first premiership against East Fremantle there in 1907. [10] They were the original home of Claremont-Cottesloe Football Club in its first year in the WAFL before moving to Claremont Oval in 1927. On 19 March 2005, the venue was used to host a one-off WAFL match between Claremont and West Perth, with Claremont winning in front of 7,812 spectators. Due to redevelopment of Claremont Oval, Claremont used the Showgrounds as its home ground between 2014 and 2016. [11]

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Claremont Oval, also known by naming rights sponsorship as Revo Fitness Stadium, is an Australian rules football stadium located in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium, opened in 1905 as "Claremont Recreation Ground", seats 5,000. It is the home of the Claremont Football Club, an Australian rules football club that plays in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL), the state's premier Australian rules competition.

Perth Motorplex is a motorsport venue located at Kwinana Beach, Western Australia. It caters mainly for drag racing and speedway, although other events are held there regularly. Over 275,000 patrons attend the venue each year to many varied events. The Perth Motorplex holds rounds of the World Series Sprintcars championship.

The 1927 WAFL season was the 43rd season of the West Australian Football League. It saw the last premiership of the East Perth dynasty dating back to the end of World War I, as mastermind coach Phil Matson was to be killed in a truck crash the following year and the Royals were to fall to a clear last in 1929 as most of their champions retired. Despite opening their permanent home ground at Claremont Oval, newcomers Claremont-Cottesloe showed little improvement on their debut season and again won only a single game. The most notable change in fortunes was from South Fremantle, who had their first season with more wins than losses since their last premiership in 1917, and extended Matson's Royals in the grand final.

The 1926 WAFL season was the 42nd season of senior football in Perth, Western Australia.

The 1940 WANFL season was the 56th season of the various incarnations of the Western Australian National Football League. It saw Claremont win its third consecutive premiership, but its last before returning to the status of cellar-dweller it occupied during its first decade in the WA(N)FL – between 1943 and 1978 Claremont played finals only five times for one premiership. South Fremantle, after a lean period in the middle 1930s, displaced perennial power clubs East Fremantle and East Perth as the Tigers’ Grand Final opponent, and established some of the basis, in spite of three disastrous wartime under-age seasons, for the club's fabled dynasty after the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claremont Speedway</span> Former racing track in Claremont, Western Australia

The Claremont Speedway was a racing circuit in the grounds of the Claremont Showground in the suburb of Claremont in Western Australia's capital city of Perth. The speedway held its first meeting on 14 May 1927, and its final meeting on 31 March 2000.

The 1922 WAFL season was the 38th season of the West Australian Football League. It saw East Perth equal East Fremantle's feat of winning four consecutive premierships, this time against a rejuvenated West Perth team which had a lean period since 1912. Their most notable feat during the season was a record comeback against South Fremantle, but on an August tour of the Eastern States the Royals also defeated SANFL premiers Norwood by the score of 8.20 (68) to 7.10 (52) and runners-up West Adelaide by 11.12 (78) to 7.12 (54), after having lost by a point to St. Kilda two weeks beforehand. A consequence of their trip – hastily planned when Subiaco's tour there was cancelled during July – was that their last round match with wooden-spooner Perth was never played – a cancellation to be repeated the following season.

The 1944 WANFL season was the 60th season of the various incarnations of the Western Australian National Football League. Consequent upon the improved fortunes of the Allies in the Pacific War, the league's decision to restrict football to those under nineteen as of 1 October become somewhat controversial, but the WANFL after much debate during the early weeks of the season decided it would not raise the age limit or even as West Perth suggested allow four 1943 players over the limit to play. This meant that a large number of players who had been mainstays in the 1942 and 1943 seasons were no longer eligible to play, and as in 1943 a number of players still eligible were erratically available due to service in the war.

The 2022 WAFL season is the 138th season of the various incarnations of the West Australian Football League (WAFL).The season commenced on the 15th of April, and concluded with the Grand Final on the 1st of October, with West Perth defeating Claremont at Leederville Oval by 12 points. Fixtures were released in stages, to allow for COVID flexibility. The first stage saw the first nine rounds of the season be released, rounds 10-14 were released before the start of Round 7, and the final rounds (14-20) were released on July 8, before the start of Round 12. All the teams from the previous season have been retained, as there was speculation if the West Coast Eagles reserves would return.

References

  1. RAS history Archived 24 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia (31 March 2011). "Annual Report 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  3. "Claremont Showground". Austadiums.com. Austadiums. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  4. Vigilans et Audax (3 November 1905). "The West Australian". p. 4. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  5. "Timeline". RASWA. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  6. State reference library images of exhibits at the 1929 royal show
  7. Charlton, Eric (20 September 1995). "Claremont Showgrounds Railway Station opened". Ministerial Media Statements. Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 July 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. "Bruce Campbell Arena". Claremont Showground. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  9. "Claremont".
  10. Wing (23 August 1945). "Australian Rules Football - Further facts about early days". The Western Mail. p. 47. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  11. Lewis, Tracey (5 April 2014). "Tigers and Lions go hunting in neutral territory". Football Budget. West Australian Football Commission. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 21 April 2014.

Further reading