West Melbourne and Beyond

Queensberry Cup North Melbourne

The Queensberry Cup in North Melbourne is a must do family and community event! Cart racing, live music and entertainment, food trucks, cooking demonstrations and more.

History

The Queensberry Cup's inaugural event was in 2022 and has now become a stand out feature of the event calendar in North Melbourne and greater Victoria. Even though young in history this event is already really well attended.

The Queensberry Cup reflects north and west Melbourne's rich automative history as well as its diverse multi-cultural neighbourhood. The event is also just a stones throw away from the famous Queen Victoria market.

Billycart Racing

The term 'billycart' originates from the Australian billy goat pulled carts of the 1880s. Billycarts were originally a simple platform with four wheels with a moveable front steering column. Over time billycarts were adapted to become a self-powered vehicle that children would race. The racing challenge was to travel as fast, as far as possible with the least initial momentum or to get over the finish line first.

A great thing about this event especially as it has now been going for more than a single year is the effort that the contestants go to to construct their bespoke billycarts. A lot of thought really goes into there construction and some are very low-tech and hard to believe actually function at all.

While for some contestants it's all about fun, for some it's all about the creation of their vehicle and others are intent to WIN!

In this age of everything being sanitised it's great that the billycart racing feels more organic with that do-it-yourself feel, a bit of creativity and being more hands on than everything digital now days.

A great thing about the billycart racing is that it is broken into age groups. It's fantastic seeing quite young kids getting into it as well at their parents allowing them to enter as well. For the adults you can tell some really are competitive while others have just had fun creating their super SLOW and un-aerodynamic vehicle.

I guess just like the real thing a few mishaps make for a bit of entertainment to the event. It's all in good spirit and the contestants didn't seem to mind.

If you are young at heart then the billycart racing is just great fun to watch. There is definitely a great community feel to it.

Lots more than a cart race

Not just a billycart race, the Queensberry Cup is a street festival with something for everyone. With events ranging from a dog show, live music and performances from across the globe, cooking demonstrations, a Courthouse Bar, fun activities for kids, community dancers, tasty foodtrucks and pop-up performances.

The cooking demonstrations seemed to be a great hit. Food from around the globe including demonstrations from East Africa, Chinese, British, Indian and Venezuelan.

There is also plenty of live entertainment. Befitting Melbourne's multicultural society there are all sorts of live entertainment representing a host of cultures from around the world.

The entertainment changes every year and some of it you will love and some probably won't take yor fancy. Whatever your tastes though there is generally something for everyone and the kids always love bopping to the music no matter who it seems to be.

The Queensberry Cup has plenty of foodtrucks so you can choose your favourite cuisine from many different food cultures.

The Queensberry Cup is well attended. If the weather obliges you are pretty much guaranteed a great time. We particularly love the positive community vibe and the setting. Cordoning off the streets and the Queensberry Cup cart racing with all the hay bales makes for a countryish feel and atmosphere. We love it!

Where

Corner Errol St. and Queensberry St., North Melbourne VIC 3051. Just three minutes drive away from Queen Victoria Market.

Cost

FREE entry!

When

Saturday 19 October 2024 from 1pm to 7pm.

Itinerary

Approximate itinerary is:

Billycart Race:

Heats from 1pm
Celebrity race from 3pm
Finals at 4pm

After Party

7pm to 9:30pm

In A Nutshell

The Queensberry Cup in North Melbourne is not to be missed. A lovely community atmosphere that somehow manages to create a country feel right in the middle of suburbia and inner city Melbourne. The novel and entertaining billycart racing amkes this festival something a bit different from everything else out there combined with the live music, entertainment, foodtrucks and just a great vibe means you should come to this at least once if you live in Melbourne.