Research Guides: Horse racing and the Melbourne Cup: Resources

Introduction

This page gives tips about resources and research. There is a list of key books that cover the history of the Cup and advice for researching newspapers.

Try a general search on our catalogue just by entering 'Melbourne cup'. From the results list you can use the options on the left side of the page to narrow your search.

Newspapers

Newspapers are a wonderful source for contemporary eyewitness accounts of Melbourne Cups.

Through the Australian Newspapers Project, the Melbourne Argus has been digitised and is now available online. The Argus contains reports of the race, a list of place-getters and the full field on the day following the Cup. For example, here is a report of the 1864 cup.

Indexes to newspapers are sporadic. The Library's Family History and Newspaper Room holds card indexes to the Sun (1929-1970), the Herald (1926-1970) and The Age (1962-1973).

For detailed tips on searching newspapers try these research guides:

There are also Biography and Local History indexes on microfiche. Ask staff at the information desk to access these. More recent additions to these indexes are available online through the Australiana Index. These are general indexes but may contain obscure and relevant references to issues or events relating to the Melbourne Cup.

Argus
This site also contains major newspapers from other states. You can browse by date or search by keywords. Do a broad search and then narrow down using the options on the left of the screen. Persevere and vary terms when searching as it is not comprehensive.
Australasian
Available on Trove. Illustrations indexed in the card index located in Arts Reading Room. A printed index covering the years 1866-1891 is available at the reference desk in Newspapers. Microfilm indexes covering the years 1866-1891 and 1892-1933 are available on open access in the Family History and Newspaper Room. A card index covering the years 1937-1946 is available on open access in the Newspaper Reading Room.
Bell's life in Victoria and sporting chronicle
Covers all sports but specialises in horse racing. Ran 1857 to 1868.
Papers past
This is an online archive of New Zealand newspapers. New Zealand horses have had great success at the Cup and these newspapers can provide a perspective from across the Tasman.

Books

The Melbourne Cup 1861-2000 by Maurice Cavanough
This was the first comprehensive book on the history of the Cup and includes detailed results and a discussion of the race year by year.

It was originally published in 1961 and had been updated and reprinted several times by Maurice Cavanough alone. This most recent edition was compiled with the assistance of Rhett Kirkwood and Brian Meldrum and published in 2001 (Maurice Cavanough died July, 2001 before this revised edition was published)
First Tuesday in November by David Bernstein
Published in 1969, this well illustrated book takes a slightly different slant in that it gives significant coverage of the social aspects of the day.
A century of winners: the saga of 127 Melbourne cups by Bill Ahern
A similar publication to the Maurice Cavanough book, this was published in a new edition in 1988.
History of Australian thoroughbred racing 3 vols by Andrew Lemon
Two of the notable merits of this 3 volume work are that it has been thoroughly researched and it has information covering all of the Australian Colonies/States. It contains reproductions of paintings by Harold Freedman, who was a war artist and had worked as State Artist during his career. He is also well-known for his mural paintings.
A century galloped by : the first hundred years of the Victoria Racing Club by John Pacini
This book concentrates on the first one hundred years of the Victoria Racing Club and was published in 1988. The Club is the operator of the Flemington racecourse and races have been run at the site since 1840.
In November 2006 the site was placed on the National Heritage List.

Websites

There is a lot of information online about the Cup. Below are listed some useful sites. Also try general Internet searches including a range of keywords.

Wikipedia entry for the Melbourne Cup
Informative page that includes footnotes
Melbourne Cup Carnival
Official site for the Melbourne Cup, includes links to the history of the Cup.
Australian Racing Museum and Hall of Fame
Includes biographies of famous horses
National Museum. Defining moments: Melbourne Cup
Interactive site that works best on Internet Explorer

In fiction

AustLit
The Melbourne Cup has also been a rich source for creative writers.

Try a keyword search for 'Melbourne Cup'. The search can then be narrowed using the options on the right hand side of the results screen. For instance, under the heading 'Form' you can choose novels or poetry.

The Library holds a variety of horse racing–related fiction, including Nat Gould's prolific popular fiction of the 1900s and Arthur Upfield's Depression-era novel The great Melbourne Cup mystery.

The action of In the frame, by British racing author Dick Francis, takes place around the Melbourne Cup.

American author Mark Twain was much impressed with the national fervour around the Cup.