Betting ring at Flemington

This panoramic image is a rare document of racing and betting in Australia. It shows the betting ring at Flemington racecourse in Melbourne, between 1886 and 1887. Among the crowd depicted are several bookmakers wearing bags and accepting bets, with the grandstands and race crowds forming the background.

The artist Carl Kahler (1856-1906) was born in Austria. He gained his classical art training in Munich and Paris before arriving in Melbourne in 1885. Kahler's series of three views depicting race meetings at Flemington were probably inspired by William Frith's famous English panoramic painting, 'The Derby Day' (1856). Kahler's original oils are now owned by the Victorian Racing Club. An edition of photogravure lithographs was published by Pfaff, Pinschoff & Co, Melbourne, and the plates were prepared by the famous lithographers Goupil & Co. of Paris.

 > View catalogue record for The Betting ring at Flemington by Carl Kahler