Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston

Last updated

Inveresk and York Park Precinct
Launceston,  Tasmania
Inveresk precinct.jpg
View of Inveresk and York Park Precinct
Australia Tasmania location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Inveresk and York Park Precinct
Coordinates 41°25′33″S147°08′20″E / 41.42583°S 147.13889°E / -41.42583; 147.13889
Postcode(s) 7250
LGA(s) City of Launceston

The Inveresk and York Park Precinct in Launceston, Tasmania, once Tasmania's largest industrial site, is now the major cultural heart of the town. It is home to York Park, one of two current Australian Football League venues in Tasmania, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, TAFE Tasmania, and The School of Visual and Performing Arts. The annual Royal Launceston Show is held every October at the Inveresk Showgrounds. Invermay Park and other minor facilities are located behind York Park and near to the Inveresk Showgrounds. The precinct is also home to the Annexe Theatre, one of Tasmania's leading venues and home of CentrStage Theatre.

Contents

York Park is a sports ground located in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia, and is the largest capacity stadium in Tasmania, holding 21,000. From 2004 to 2016, it was known as Aurora Stadium, under a naming-rights sponsorship deal with Aurora Energy. Late 2016, the naming rights were picked up by University of Tasmania. [1] Primarily used for Australian rules football, its record attendance was 20,971, when Hawthorn played Richmond in an AFL match in June 2006.

York Park

An AFL match at Aurora Stadium Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs - 31st May 2008 181.jpg
An AFL match at Aurora Stadium

York Park is a sports ground located in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. It has the highest capacity of any stadium in Tasmania, holding 20,000. Between 2004 and 2016, it was known as Aurora Stadium under a naming rights agreement with Aurora Energy. Primarily used for Australian rules football, its record attendance, 20,971, was set in June 2006 when Hawthorn played Richmond in an Australian Football League (AFL) match in June 2006.

York Park has been used as an international sports venue since 2001. Beforehand, only North Launceston and state football games were played. The area was originally swampland before becoming Launceston's showgrounds in 1873. Work started on transforming the area into a sports venue in 1919 and was completed within two years.

Australian rules football has been played at York Park since 1923, with other sports such as cricket, tennis, bowling, cycling and foot-racing also staged. Since 2001, the Hawthorn Football Club has played between two and five AFL matches a year at the ground, and the St Kilda Football Club played two games a year from 2003 to 2006. The Tasmanian Government has a A$16.4-million, five-year sponsorship deal with Hawthorn, meaning that four home and away season games and one National Australia Bank Cup pre-season match will be played at the venue each year. On 21 February 2009 the ground became home of the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame. Throughout its history, York Park has hosted major pop concerts and other entertainments. A redevelopment at a cost of $23.6 million was completed in 2005. [2]

The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) has a part of the museum located at the Inveresk Precinct. Its other site is at Royal Park and when combined it becomes the largest museum in Australia located out of a capital city. [3] It includes a working planetarium and displays related to Launceston's industrial environments and railway workshops.

Looking towards the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.jpg
Looking towards the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

Inveresk Showgrounds

Every October the Royal Launceston Show is held at the Inveresk Showgrounds. The show runs for three days, starting on a Thursday (Which is a public holiday in Northern Tasmania) and ending on Sunday. The Royal Launceston Show is principally an agricultural event which focuses on the primary industries of Tasmania, and rural lifestyle of many Tasmanians with events such as livestock judging, equestrian events, animal breeders competitions, produce competitions and wood chopping, although it also incorporates live entertainment, sporting events, food tasting, and fashion shows. A popular feature of the show is the sideshows which feature showrides, foodstalls, games of skill, and showbag stalls. [4]

MS Fest was a single day music festival held beside York Park annually between 2006 - 2011. The festival started at Launceston's Regatta Ground to mark the 50th anniversary of the MS society, and it was a big success with all tickets being sold. In 2007 the event was moved the Inveresk Showgrounds to accommodate a larger crowd and even with a larger capacity it was again a sellout. During 2008, a record crowd of 11,000 watched acts such as; Hilltop Hoods, Sneaky Sound System and Kisschasy. The 2011 event was the final MS Fest to date. Initially it was announced that the 2012 event would move to Hobart, Tasmania, [5] but was later cancelled due to poor ticket sales. [6]

Australian Technical College

An Australian Technical College campus was constructed at the Inveresk site at a cost of around $7.5 million. [7]

Past proposed projects

In 1998 a $25 million hotel and convention centre was proposed for Inveresk. Plans indicated that the 100 to 150 room hotel would be at least four stars and worth about $15 million, and in a separate building next door would be a 500-seat convention centre. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Launceston, Tasmania</span> City in Tasmania, Australia

Launceston is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launceston urban area has a population of 90,953. Launceston is the second most populous city in Tasmania after the state capital, Hobart. As of 2020, Launceston is the 18th largest city in Australia. Launceston is the fifth-largest inland city and the ninth-largest non-capital city in Australia. Launceston is regarded as the most livable regional city, and was one of the most popular regional cities to move to in Australia from 2020 to 2021. Launceston was named Australian Town of the Year in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellerive Oval</span> Sports stadium

Bellerive Oval is a cricket and an Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, Australia. Holding 20,000 people, it is the largest capacity stadium in Tasmania. It is the only venue in Tasmania which hosts international cricket matches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasmanian Devils (2001–2008)</span> Australian rules football club

The Tasmanian Devils was an Australian rules football club based in Tasmania that competed in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Park</span> Sports stadium in Tasmania

York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 19,500 people, York Park is known commercially as University of Tasmania (UTAS) Stadium and was formerly known as Aurora Stadium under a previous naming rights agreement signed with Aurora Energy in 2004. Primarily used for Australian rules football, its record attendance of 20,971 was set in June 2006, when Hawthorn Football Club played Richmond Football Club in an Australian Football League (AFL) match.

Soccer in Tasmania describes the sport of soccer being played and watched by people in the state of Tasmania in Australia.

Australian rules football attendance records

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Hobart Oval</span> Sports venue in Tasmania, Australia

North Hobart Oval is a sports venue in North Hobart, Tasmania. Formerly used primarily for Australian rules football widely regarded as the traditional home of Australian football in Tasmania. However since the 1950s it has also become one of the main soccer venues in Tasmania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian rules football in Tasmania</span>

Australian rules football in Tasmania, has been played since the late 1860s and draws the largest audience for a football code in the state.

Princes Park is an Australian rules football ground located inside the Princes Park precinct in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. Officially the Carlton Recreation Ground, it is a historic venue, having been Carlton Football Club's VFL/AFL home ground from 1897.

Invermay is a residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Launceston in the Launceston LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of the town of Launceston. The 2021 census recorded a population of 3,498 for the state suburb of Invermay. It is a suburb of Launceston, which contains the minor suburb of Inveresk, it is located on the eastern side of the Tamar River and the northern side of the North Esk River, the suburb is most notable as being home to York Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Hobart Showground</span> Sports and show venue in Hobart, Tasmania

The Royal Hobart Showgrounds are the site of the Royal Hobart Show and many other smaller events including a market on the grounds every Sunday. The Royal Hobart Showground is located 10 km north of Hobart, between the junction to Brooker Highway/Goodwood Road and the Main Road in Glenorchy.

Sport in Tasmania is participation in and attendance at organised sports events in the state of Tasmania in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MS Fest</span>

MS Fest was a music festival, held annually in Launceston, Tasmania Australia since 2006 until 2011 when the MS Society unsuccessfully attempted to establish a new event under the brand. Hobart, Tasmania. It was a single day event, held in February or March on a Saturday.

The history of the Tasmanian AFL bid covers a series of proposals and bids between 1987 and 2023 for a Tasmanian-based Australian rules football team in the Australian Football League and AFL Women's premierships. Eight formal proposals for a new or relocated club to represent Tasmania were made over this time, the earliest coming in 1992, while informal proposals were raised as early as 1987, when the Victorian Football League commenced its expansion to become a national competition.

A-League expansion in Tasmania has been proposed since the establishment of the A-League in 2005. Before the introduction of the league, Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy said he hoped to expand the competition into cities such as Hobart and Launceston, among others.

The 2009 AFL Tasmania TSL premiership season was an Australian rules football competition, staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen roster rounds and six finals series matches between 4 April and 19 September 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eureka Stadium</span> Sports stadium in Victoria, Australia

Eureka Stadium, known commercially as Mars Stadium, is an oval-shaped sports stadium located in the Eureka Sports Precinct of Wendouree, 2.9 km (1.8 mi) north of the CBD of the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Showground Stadium</span> Stadium in Sydney

Sydney Showground Stadium is a sports and events stadium located at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It hosted the baseball events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Showground, including the stadium, is operated by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS), under lease from the New South Wales Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prospect Hawks Football Club</span>

The Prospect Hawks Football Club is an Australian rules football club which was a member of the Tasmanian State Football League (TSL) from 2014 until 2016. The club is based in Prospect, a Western suburb of Launceston. The club is a rebranding of Western Storm Football Club, the latter of which had competed stand alone in the TSL in 2014 and 2015, in partnership with the local Prospect Senior and Junior Football Clubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Derby (AFL)</span> Australian rules football local derby match

The Sydney Derby, formerly and unofficially called the Battle of the Bridge, is an Australian rules football local derby match between the two Sydney-based Australian Football League (AFL) clubs, the Sydney Swans and the Greater Western Sydney Giants. As of the conclusion of the 2023 AFL season, the head-to-head score is in favour of the Sydney Swans with 16 wins to 10; the teams have also met three times in finals matches, with Greater Western Sydney winning each time.

References

  1. Clark, Nick (22 October 2016). "University of Tasmania kicks big goals as naming rights sponsor of York Park". The Mercury. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  2. "Arson suspected in historic grandstand fire". ABC News. 31 March 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
  3. "Our Museum". Archived from the original on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
  4. "The Royal Launceston Show". Total Travel. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  5. "Music festival moves south" . Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  6. "MS Fest cancelled" . Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  7. "Inveresk Project Commenced". Archived from the original on 25 October 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
  8. "$25m for Inveresk hotel proposal". The Examiner. 5 August 2008. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2008.