Maroubra Speedway

It officially opened with its first meeting on Saturday, 5 December 1925,[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184829233 New Motor Racing Era Dawns with Maroubra Opening, The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 9 December 1925), p.1.][https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16259419 Opening of Maroubra Speedway, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 7 December 1925), p.14.]

Among the competitors on that first evening were two women:[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/217639484 Thrilling Races: Maroubra Speedway, The (Brisbane) Daily Mail, (Sunday, 6 December 1925), p.7.] Marie Jenkins, of Melbourne,[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45915162 Woman Speed Motorist Narrowly Escapes Death, The (Broken Hill) Barrier Miner, (Monday, 9 November 1925), p.1]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184828219 Maher, J.J. ("Pedal"), "Marie Jenkins, Australia's Lady Champion, Talks of Motor Thrills", The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 11 November 1925), p.10]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223931810/24476862 Women on the Speed Track, The (Sydney) Sun: Women's Supplement, (Sunday, 29 November 1925), p.3.] in a Brecia Bugatti, and Mrs. J.A.S. Jones,Nina Eva Vida Jones (1882-1966), née Harris, always competed as "Mrs. J. A. S. Jones"; and, in fact, she was often competing at the same meetings as "J. A. S. Jones" — John Alexander Stammers Jones (1870-1933) -- her husband. of Lithgow, in a Crossley Sports.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128132906 Who's Who on the Speedway, The (Sydney) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 3 January, 1926), p.7; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28052979 Motoring News: Lady Motorist: Mrs. J. A. S. Jones, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Tuesday, 16 August 1927), p.6]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220825722 Mrs. J.A.S. Jones had an Exciting Early Life, The Lithgow Mercury, Monday, 22 March 1954), p.4]; [https://primotipo.com/2018/02/15/mrs-jas-jones-alfa-6c-1750-ss-zagato Mrs JAS Jones Alfa 6C 1750 SS Zagato, Primotipo, 15 February 2018.][http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jones-nina-eva-vida-6879 Johnson, K. A., "Jones, Nina Eva Vida (1882–1966)", Australian Dictionary of Biography.]

At the speedway's third meeting, on Saturday, 2 January 1926, Jenkins was the first woman to win a final race—i.e., rather than just a heat—at the speedway.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28061937 Motoring: Olympia Speedway, The Sydney Morning Herald, Monday, 4 January 1926), p.7.]

{{quote box|width=29em|                 MISCELLANEOUS (16 November 1927)

    The Maroubra Speedway has again been sold by auction, and this time realised a price of only £2500.
    The history of this speedway is interesting in view of the fact that its area, 70 acres, is leased from the Crown and the contract price for the track and other improvements that are built thereon was £34,000.
    In addition to this sum there is an extra amount of about £8000 involved in the installation of electric time-keeping boards and scoring room.
    The original company, after a few successful meetings, went into liquidation, and left a large amount of the contract price for the work owing to Master Builder Wm. Hughes.
    The Speedway was sold at auction to one of the original shareholders, J. S. Taylor, who paid £10,850 for it.
    The refusal of permission to conduct night trotting within the course, however, forced Mr. Taylor to sell to G. W. Taylor, who purchased the Speedway on Monday last.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108990286/11174246 Opportunity Report: Miscellaneous, Construction and Local Government Journal, (Wednesday, 16 November 1927), p.16.]}}

The 1 mile banked concrete bowl was the scene of some large and successful race meetings before a decline in attendances saw the track close in 1927, but reopened many times in the 1930s.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128162798 Maroubra Speedway: A Great Enterprise, The (Sydney) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 22 November 1925), p,8.][https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173264931 New Track Record, The Shepparton Advertiser, (Thursday, 17 December 1925), p.4.][https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107917819 Ward, L., "Drama and Tragedy at Maroubra", The Canberra Times, (Monday, 6 April 1970), p15.]

Despite the banking being too steep to walk up, it was still not enough for the speeds achieved, and four competitors lost their lives going over the top of banking. Three others also died at the circuit, two of whom were motorcyclists.

The sensationalist media of the day dubbed it a "killer track" which did little to improve the fortunes of the venue.[http://www.sandshotel.com.au/local_knowledge/speedway.html Sands Hotel: Local Knowledge: Maroubra Speedway: "The Killer Track"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013194046/http://www.sandshotel.com.au/local_knowledge/speedway.html |date=13 October 2009 }}

The speedway continued to operate sporadically in the 1930s but the meetings were not the large affairs held previously.

The track was used for club days, practice, and record attempts;{{cite web| url= http://members.iinet.net.au/~gacocks/story3.html | title = The Story of Silver Wings", p.3. | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20121010151005/http://members.iinet.net.au/~gacocks/story3.html | archivedate= 2012-10-10 }} and was also used for testing.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169338068 Master Chevrolet, The (Sydney) Truth, Sunday, 14 October 1934), p.11]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/81890582 Fatal Injuries to Speedway Rider: Crash at Maroubra, The Singleton Argus'', (Monday, 15 June 1936), p.2.]

By the 1940s the track was crumbling due to flooding and poor quality concrete.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229474960 Drowned at Speedway: Man Tangled in Weeds, The (Sydney) Sun, (Monday, 13 February 1939), p.3]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/236278437 Man drowns in Lake: Rescuer's Narrow Escape, The (Sydney) Daily News, (Tuesday, 14 February 1939), p.2]; [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17563191 Man drowned in Lagoon: Entangled in Weeds: Rescue Effort Fails, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Tuesday, 14 February 1939), p.12]; [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247445691 Workman Drowned in Swamp, The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph, (Tuesday, 14 February 1939), p.7]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231101433 Death Swim at Speedway, The (Sydney) Sun, (Wednesday, 1 March 1939), p.9]; [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247546566 Drowned in Maroubra Lake, The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph, (Thursday, 2 March 1939), p.8.] In 1947, it was demolished, and a (1,100 dwelling) housing commission suburb was built on the site,[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142305412 Housing Shortage, The (Bourke) Western Herald, (Friday, 20 January 1950), p.5]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27518516 South Sydney Rail Link Proposal, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Monday, 31 Nay 1954), p.12]; [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/190214508 Housing the People: Large Scale Development Vital to Low Cost, The Biz, (Wednesday, 9 July 1958), p.26.] with a park, named Coral Sea Park, developed in what had once been the infield area.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/236249649 Action by people saves Maroubra park, The (Sydney) Tribune, (Wednesday, 28 March 1962), p.10.]

Streets in the new area — e.g., Astoria Circuit (USS Astoria), Chicago Avenue (USS Chicago), Lexington Place (USS Lexington),[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-06/uss-lexington-found-at-the-bottom-of-the-coral-sea/9517986 Sweeney, L., "USS Lexington: WWII aircraft carrier found 76 years after it sank in the Battle of the Coral Sea", ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Commission, 6 March 2018.] Morris Place (USS Morris), Neosho Way (USS Neosho), Perkins Street (USS Perkins), Sims Lane and Sims Grove (USS Sims) — were named after Allied ships that had been engaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea.[http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/about-council/history/historic-places/historic-street-and-place-names Randwick City Council: Historic Street & Place Names.]

• [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/20632073 70,000 Spectators were Thrilled at Opening of Sydney's New Speedway, The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 9 December 1925), p.11]
• [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223926854 Racing Motors: Opening of Maroubra Speedway, The (Sydney) Sun, (Sunday, 6 December 1925), p.8.]
• [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/103756858 Motoring and Engineering: Maroubra Speedway.—Great Opening Meeting, The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, (Fri, 11 December 1925), p.11.]
• Boldiston, Bill (2018), A Maroubra Speedway Scrap Book: A Miscellany of Stories, Photographs and Details of Sydney's Spectacular, but Tragically Short-Lived Motor Racing Circuit 1926-1936, Bol d'Or Publishing, (Leura), 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-9757-2129-2}}

• [http://www.vintagespeedway.com/Maroubra.html Olympia Motor Speedway, Maroubra N.S.W.], vintagespeedway.com.
• [http://www.speedwayandroadracehistory.com/sydney---olympia-motor-speedway-maroubra-speedway.html Sydney (NSW): 1925 Olympia Motor Speedway], speedwayandroadracehistory.com.
• [https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/settlement/display/101690-bicentennial-of-australia-site-of-maroubra-speedway Bicentennial of Australia - Site of Maroubra Speedway], monumentaustralia.org.au.
• [https://thebeast.com.au/other/local-history-maroubra-speedway/ Randwick City Council, "Local History – Maroubra Speedway", The Beast Magazine, 21 October 2010.]
• [https://dictionaryofsydney.org/place/olympia_speedway Olympia Speedway, The Dictionary of Sydney.]
• [https://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2015/07/30/olympia-speedwaycoral-sea-park-maroubra-nsw/ Wayne, Michael, "Olympia Speedway/Coral Sea Park – Maroubra, NSW"], Past/Lives of the Near Future, 30 July 2015.

{{coord|33|56|50|S|151|14|36|E|display=title}}

Category:Defunct speedway venues in Australia

Category:Sports venues in Sydney

Category:Sports venues completed in 1925

Category:Sports venues demolished in 1947

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in New South Wales

Category:Maroubra, New South Wales

Category:Demolished sports venues