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  3. Olympia Motor Speedway, late 1925

Olympia Motor Speedway, late 1925

By
Sam Hood
From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[hood_03776 / Home and Away 3776]
(Left to right: probably Austin 7, Amilcar, Cleveland Six; Jewett; and Vauxhall 1914 "Fifty Bob", which was still running in 2003) (Mitchell Library)

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Maroubra Sport
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Maroubra Olympia Speedway

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Hood, Sam

State Library of New South Wales

Sport

Sport has long been important in Sydney life, interwoven with its fabric and culture. The ritual contests and physical activity of the Aboriginal people gave way to the informal, disreputable and often cruel pastimes of the early nineteenth century. The late nineteenth century saw the development of formal codes and organised leagues, leading to the commercialised, professional sports of the present.

Maroubra

Originally fishing and camping grounds for the local Muru-ora-dial Aboriginal people, Maroubra is now the largest suburb in the area governed by Randwick City Council, in both area and population. However, its early beginnings did not foresee such developments. Industry and the spectacle of dramatic shipwrecks drew Europeans to the area in the late nineteenth century but development didn't begin in earnest until the early twentieth century.

Cars

Motor racing

Maroubra

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South-eastern beachside suburb. Its name is believed to come from a tribe that lived there, or from a Dharuk companion of Bennelong. Another conjectured meaning is 'like thunder', referring to the sound of heavy surf.

Olympia Speedway

Australia's first major motor racing venue financed by a syndicate of Sydney businessmen on 33 hectares of Crown Land at Maroubra. It operated for about 10 years but poor design, five fatalaties and reduced attendance lead to its closure and redevelopment as a residential area and Coral Sea Park.

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