Flashback – The History of Weetwood

Toowoomba’s historic homes lend their names to our rich racing heritage

Just like Picnic Point and Ruthven Street, Clifford Park and Weetwood are names people immediately associate with Toowoomba.

Alongside Bernborough and Jim Atkins, Clifford Park and Weetwood Handicap are the city’s most famous racing names. They are unique in belonging not only to Toowoomba’s thoroughbred industry but the city’s social fabric.

Even if you have never been to a Toowoomba race meeting, chances are if you have lived in the Garden City for any length of time you would have heard those iconic names.

The race-track deeds of Bernborough and JJ Atkins speak for themselves, but what of Clifford Park and Weetwood Handicap? How did they earn their place on one of Australia’s most historic race courses? The answers are as simple as they are mysterious and typical of Australia’s pioneering past they are connected to our founders and their contribution to Toowoomba’s development. Clifford Park race course got its name from Clifford House, the Toowoomba residence of the Hon. James Taylor. Taylor — born in Clifford, Yorkshire — was a squatter, investor and politician who went on to be known as “The King Of Toowoomba”.

Taylor is credited with creating Toowoomba and amongst his many contributions and claims to fame in the city’s formation during the 1800s was his passion for horse racing.

Clifford House is now the home of Gip’s Restaurant which on its website carries a brief history of the building and the Taylor family’s life there.

In 1869, Taylor, his wife Sara and their nine children took up residence in the 30-room Russell Street home which carried a staff of six housemaids and three gardeners.

Gip’s Restaurant took its name from Taylor’s jack russell named Gip who died in 1894 and whose name was found on a garden headstone.

The Weetwood Handicap — originally known as the Weetwood Stakes — also takes its name from a house adjacent to Clifford Park race course in Tor Street. “Weetwood” is one of Toowoomba’s most historic homes and still stands. The Chronicle archives reveal it was built in 1888 by Richard William Scholfield who called his colonial, solid-brick house “Weetwood” after his father’s home in the Yorkshire city of Leeds in England. The home was originally set on seven acres of land with a lawn tennis court and during World War II it became an army headquarters.

Scholfield shipped furniture and fittings from England.

Scholfield’s daughter, Miss Marjorie Scholfield, recalled the Weetwood Handicap was instituted at Clifford Park to honour her father for his work for Toowoomba Turf Club. Scholfield was a TTC steward in 1878 and became club secretary in 1879 and a trustee in 1885.

In 1890 Mr Scholfield became a TTC committee member, later dying in 1902. The “Weetwood stand” some times referred to in Clifford Park race calls is a steward’s tower situated around the 600-metre mark behind the home. While the names Clifford Park and Weetwood come from obscure origins, they are a reflection of their time and will continue flying the flag for Toowoomba and its racing community for generations to come.