Jockey - Waverley Council

TAMES TOSEPH DONOHOE Horse trainer
BORN: C.1860, Cavan, Ireland
DIED: 19 February 1925, Kensfrigton, N.S.W.
AGED: 67 years
GRAVE: 2480 Roman CathoUc Select, Section 17
The Donohoe famUy arrived in Soutii AustiaUa around 1870 and
eventually made thefr way to Sydney. By 1894 tiiey were fri "Kensington,
heartland of Sydney's horse-racing, living for many years near a side
entrance to Randwick racecourse," records the Australian Dictionary of
Biography. "Racing was decidedly their game."
Donohoe's interest, however, was not thoroughbred horse racing, but the
pony tiacks and tiotting. When Sir James Joynton Smith established a
new racecourse at Zetland, he chose Donohoe to supervise its building.
Victoria Park opened on 15 January 1908 and Donohoe was its manager,
later secretary. "A big man with a genial Irish nature, Donohoe was a
popular figure on racecourses in Sydney, and also in Melbourne where
he was a frequent visitor for important meetings," continued the ADB.
"Barely literate, but no prodigal, he was a shrewd gambler, and his wife
invested windfalls in semi-detached cottages."
"After an extended illness, Mr J.J. Donohoe died last night at his
residence, Doncaster Avenue, Kensington," reported the Daily Telegraph
obituary. "There were few better known men in Sydney racing circles
than the deceased, his activities, especially in connection with Victoria
Park R.C., having brought him into prominence."
His funeral was well attended by members of the racing fiatemity
representing the Victoria Park Racing Club, AustiaUan Jockey Club,
Kensington and Rosebery Racing Clubs, Richmond Club, City TattersaU's
Club, Pony Owners and Trainers' Association. "A requiem mass was
celebrated at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Kensington, by the Rev.
Father McAuliffe," the SMH wrote. Among the mourners were his
widow and five sons, three of whom carried on the racing tiadition, John
(A.J.C. tiainer), James (A.J.C. Steward), WUUam (Secretary of the V.P.R.C.
and A.T.C.), Charles and Frank.
SOURCE: Waverley Cemetery Archives; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Daily Telegraph 20-2-1925,23-2-1925;
SMH 23-2-1925
Illustration source: Silks & Sulkies by Max Agnew
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