ON THIS DAY - Shoalhaven Holidays
ON THIS DAY - Shoalhaven Holidays
ON THIS DAY - Shoalhaven Holidays
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- On This Day -<br />
NOVEMBER 6<br />
34 1877 Tuesday 6th November and Chester of Nowra, trained by<br />
32 Etienne De Mestre wins the Melbourne Cup. This was the<br />
33 third horse and fourth win for the <strong>Shoalhaven</strong>. Chester beat<br />
Savanaka by half a head with a new Cup record of 3 minutes 33½<br />
seconds. First prize was £1,870, the crowd was 76,000 and there<br />
were 33 starters. Chester started at 5/1 equal favourite with<br />
Savanaka and carried 6 stone 12 lbs.<br />
1 1891 Laying of the foundation stone for the Rectory for St. Luke's Church<br />
of England, Berry.<br />
1 1948 Inaugural charter dinner of the Nowra Apex Club.<br />
Gordon Cook was President, Stanley Duncan, Secretary<br />
and Douglass Phipps, Treasurer.<br />
NOVEMBER 7<br />
7 1861 Thursday, the 7th November, 1861, and Archer wins<br />
32 the first Melbourne Cup! After leading by three lengths<br />
33 into the final straight Archer sprinted away to win by six<br />
34 lengths from Mormon amid cheering from 4,000 spectators. The five<br />
year-old bay carried 9st 7lb and covered the two mile journey in 3<br />
mintues 52 seconds (the slowest Melbourne Cup on record). Archer<br />
had not been heavilly supported but after his owner Etienne De<br />
Mestre of Terara, had made his wager Archer started as second<br />
favourite at 6/1. First prize was 930 sovereigns. Other place<br />
getters went unrewarded. There were 17 starters. Other reports<br />
give the prize money as £710 and a hand beaten gold watch.<br />
Archer was bred in 1856 at Exeter Farm, Braidwood, and trained at<br />
Terara near Nowra. It is generally accepted that Archer walked<br />
from Terara to Melbourne, a distance of 550 miles (this was at a rate<br />
of about 25 miles per day, mainly over bush tracks). It was even<br />
confirmed by Beryl De Mestre, the daughter of Etienne De Mestre, in<br />
a letter of congratulations to Bart Cummings when he broke her<br />
fathers record in 1977.<br />
However, two newspapers of the day do claim that Archer (and other<br />
horses) travelled by ship.<br />
10 1868 First recorded advertisement for a hotel in Nowra. George Tory,<br />
proprietor of the Nowra Hotel (on the site now occupied by Coles<br />
Supermarket) advertised the services of his hotel in the <strong>Shoalhaven</strong><br />
news.<br />
12 1978 Tuesday 7th November, and Arwon (from Nowra) wins the 117th<br />
Melbourne Cup.<br />
67
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