Symposium: The Heart of Australian Racing

Jockey Jim Pike on Peter Pan.

Friday 13 August 2010, 9.30am to 5pm
Free
Bookings essential on (02) 6208 5021
Visions Theatre, National Museum of Australia

Join racing personalities, historians and public thinkers to discuss and debate the national allure of the Melbourne Cup.

This symposium, held in conjunction with the Victoria Racing Club to mark the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup, celebrates the place of this iconic racing event in Australian life and culture, and its enduring fascination for Australians.

Great champions of the past are among our national heroes, and their stories, and those of their jockeys, trainers and owners, are Australian legends.

• What is the Melbourne Cup and why is it important?
• Where does the Melbourne Cup belong in Australian culture and why has it endured?
• What the Melbourne Cup means to me.
• On the punt: chance, racing and the horse in Australian life and culture.
• The 2010 Emirates Melbourne Cup trophy.
• Launch of coin to mark the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup.

The inscription on the cup reads: 'Melbourne Cup, 1934. Won by Mr RR Dangar's Peter Pan, age 5 yrs. Weight 8st 10lb'. Photo: George Serras.

• Andrew Peacock
• Andrew Sayers, Director, National Museum of Australia
• Bryan Martin, Chairman, Australian Racing Hall of Fame
• Chris McConville
• Fiona Carruthers, Australian Financial Review
• Geoff Slattery, publisher
• John Letts
• Mark De Mestre
• Rod Fitzroy, VRC Chairman
• Sheila Laxon
• Wendy Green