Queenstown Oval, Tasmania

Queenstown Oval
Location Queenstown, Tasmania
Coordinates 42°4′33″S 145°33′34″E / 42.07583°S 145.55944°E / -42.07583; 145.55944Coordinates: 42°4′33″S 145°33′34″E / 42.07583°S 145.55944°E / -42.07583; 145.55944
Capacity 5,000
Surface Gravel
Construction
Opened 1895
Construction cost Unknown
Architect Various
Tenants
Queenstown Crows Football Club

Queenstown Oval, known colloquially as The Gravel or The Rec (for Recreation Ground), is a sports arena in Queenstown located on the west coast of Tasmania, infamous for its gravel playing surface. Built in 1895, the venue is used primarily for Australian rules football, and also hosts cricket and athletics.[1] The ground has a main concrete grandstand and a total capacity of 5,000.

Queenstown Oval was the grand final venue for the now defunct Western Tasmanian Football Association [2] for nearly a century and is currently the home ground for the local Queenstown Crows in the Darwin Football Association.

The ground was the first ground in Tasmanian that had a siren installed to signal the start and end of each quarter, with the siren being borrowed from the Mt Lyell Mines.[3][4]

The Queenstown Oval was inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame in 2007.[1]

There is a subtle reference to the ground's gravel playing surface in Jamie Cooper's Tasmania's Team of the Century painting, with gravel visible in the knees of Queenstown-born Australian football legend Ian Stewart.[5]

The oval was due for updating in the 2010s[6] and is a part of the The Unconformity festival in 2016.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Ogilvie, Felicity (17 May 2007). "The Gravel enters Tasmania's football Hall of Fame". ABC. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  2. Most football relics - jumpers, colours and flags from the closed cubs are held in the Galley Museum in Queenstown
  3. "Queenstown Oval". Australian Stadiums. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  4. "Around Queenstown". Queenstown Motor Lodge. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  5. JCAP, Tasmania's Team of the Century Archived 16 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine., retrieved 25 September 2010
  6. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-13/the-gravel-football-oval-to-get-a-facelift-queenstown/5741714
  7. http://theunconformity.com.au/events/grand-finale-unconformity-cup/Grand Finale
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