The existing trotting track almost follows exactly the same line as the original speedway.
Jim Cameron, Roarin' John Hoskins, Ernie Buck, the Datson Brothers, Billie Lamont,Tommy Beanstead, Paddy Dean, Pat Hamilton, and many other riders thrilled crowds in those early days during the birth of this sport.
As did Jack Turner:
JACK Turner began his career as a cyclist but it was as a speedway champion that he is best remembered.
Born in 1893, Jack Turner was 16 when he entered his first big bicycle race, from Branxton to Mayfield.
He got lost near Lochinvar and crossed the finishing line the next day, after sleeping out overnight. The following year he lined up again for the then popular race ... and won it by half a wheel.
Turner then took to motorcycle racing and became one of the pioneers of speedway racing. He was the NSW champion from 1919 to 1922.
He rode from scratch for five years and in one season he won 11 of 13 major races.
The son, and one of five children, of Mosquito Island farmer, Jack Turner bought his first bicycle at 13. He paid 15 shillings for it, five shillings deposit and the remainder paid from his earnings picking mushrooms.
He was 19 when he bought his first motorbike, for #45. He joined the Hunter Motorcycle Club, which had been formed in 1909 and whose membership was made up mostly of former cyclists.
In 1966, Jack Turner recalled: `Eager young bucks, we went in for reliability trials, petrol consumption tests and the like.'
The main interest was in track racing, on a quarter-mile asphalt circuit.
`Motorcycle racing was held in conjunction with bicycle racing ? by gaslight.' The Hunter club ceased to exist in World War I and its place was taken by the Newcastle Motorcycle Club.
Turner opened a small bicycle shop in Maitland Rd in 1923, the year speedway was born. It was held at Maitland Showground.
`By 1925 it was the greatest outdoor attraction in the north,' Turner later recalled. `Special trains ran from Newcastle and Cessnock and dozens of buses came from other areas.'
In 1931 an Australian speedway team went to England to introduce the sport.
`For their first program they gave away thousands of tickets to ensure a good crowd. Within a few months they were filling Wembley Stadium.'
Jack Turner ended his career in 1932 and died in September, 1979.
The final cache is within view of this historic place.
The Co-ordinates can be found in the image below:
I would like, if possible, that upload a short film of yourself or your team opening the cache, uploading to youtube and sharing your reaction with a link in your log. - click for the playlist but don't view the videos before you find it, You will spoil your own fun.