By Paul Dolan

THE ‘one-turn’ Gold Coast track which closed in 2008 is fondly remembered by lots of people.

When the track opened in 1988, the club called itself the Parklands Greyhound Racing Club, rather than Gold Coast club. The venue was labelled ‘Parklands’. That created some confusion. Lots of punters had no idea where Parklands was situated. With a name like that, it could have been anywhere in the world. There were trainers from south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales who struggled to find the track, as there was very little signage to point you in the right direction. Sensibly, the club reverted to its original name of ‘Gold Coast’.

I raise the matter because south-east Queensland should have a new track in 2024 at Purga which is on the outskirts of Ipswich. The site is referred to at present by Racing Queensland as the Greater Brisbane Greyhound Club, which makes sense given that the plan is for the Ipswich GRC and Brisbane GRC (Albion Park) to merge. But what are we going to call the new venue?

Greater Brisbane? I think not, as Purga isn’t in Brisbane, or even close to it. One suggestion made to me was to call the new place Flying Amy Park. The sprint sensation of the mid 1990s was owned by people from Ipswich and trained by Ron Ball who was based not far from Ipswich. But Flying Amy never raced at Ipswich. And if a person was to pick up a newspaper and see the heading ‘Flying Amy Park’, unless that person is a greyhound racing enthusiast, the name would mean nothing. I suppose you could say the same with any number of tracks. The Gardens could be anywhere. Same with The Meadows. So what do we do to solve this pending crisis? Well, not a crisis as such, but it’s food for thought.

I guess you have all heard of the Reconciliation Action Plan that RQ has going. It appears that the name ‘Ipswich’ is known traditionally in the Yagara language as Tulmur. ‘Purga’ is thought to derive from an Aboriginal word meaning a meeting place. Given that a greyhound track is a place of meeting for fun and enjoyment, calling it ‘Purga’ makes some sense. As for ‘Tulmur’, probably not.

If you have a thought on this matter, why not pass it on to Racing Queensland or the Brisbane or Ipswich clubs.

After much thought, I’m going to sound boring here, and suggest the new venue be called simply ‘Ipswich’.