{{Short description|Sports oval in Queenstown, Tasmania}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2013}} {{Infobox venue | name = Queenstown Oval | nickname = | image = Queenstown Oval at sunset.jpg | image_caption = Queenstown Oval at sunset (2022) | location = Queenstown, Tasmania | coordinates = {{coord|42|4|33|S|145|33|34|E|type:landmark|display=it}} | broke_ground = | opened = 1895 | closed = | demolished = | owner = | operator = | surface = Gravel | construction_cost = Unknown | dimensions = | architect = Various | former_names = | tenants = Queenstown Crows Football Club | seating_capacity = 5,000<ref>{{cite web |title=Queenstown Oval |url=https://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=219 |website=Austadiums |access-date=16 November 2019}}</ref> }}
'''Queenstown Oval''', known colloquially as ''The Gravel'' or ''The Rec'' (for Recreation Ground), is a sports arena in Queenstown, located on the west coast of Tasmania. Built in 1895, it is infamous for its gravel playing surface, and is used primarily for Australian rules football, while also hosting cricket and athletics.<ref name="HoF">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1925450.htm|title=The Gravel enters Tasmania's football Hall of Fame|first=Felicity|last=Ogilvie|date=17 May 2007|access-date=10 August 2012|publisher=ABC}}</ref> The ground has a main concrete grandstand and a total capacity of 5,000.
For nearly a century, Queenstown Oval was the grand final venue for the now defunct Western Tasmanian Football Association.<ref>Most football relics – jumpers, colours and flags from the closed cubs are held in the Galley Museum in Queenstown</ref> It is currently the home ground for the local Queenstown Crows in the Darwin Football Association.<br /> Queenstown Crows are a 1994-merger of Queenstown Blues and Lyell-Gormanston clubs, both clubs were previously formed as merged entities (Queenstown Blues resulted from the 1977 merger of City Magpies and Smelters Robins, while the Lyell and Gormanston clubs amalgamated in 1976). <br /> The ground was the first in Tasmania to have a siren installed to signal the start and end of each quarter. It was borrowed from the Mt Lyell Mines.<ref>{{cite news | title = Queenstown Oval | work = Australian Stadiums | url = http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=219 | access-date = 2009-01-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Around Queenstown | work = Queenstown Motor Lodge | url = http://www.queenstownmotorlodge.com.au/queenstown.html | access-date = 2009-01-13}}</ref>
Inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame in 2007,<ref name="HoF" /> the ground was due for updating in the 2010s<ref>{{cite news| url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-13/the-gravel-football-oval-to-get-a-facelift-queenstown/5741714| title = Queenstown's infamous oval 'The Gravel' to get facelift, but more money needed | publisher = ABC News|location=Australia| date = 13 September 2014}}</ref> and was part of The Unconformity festival in 2016.<ref>http://theunconformity.com.au/events/grand-finale-unconformity-cup/Grand{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Finale</ref>
There is a subtle reference to the ground's gravel playing surface in Jamie Cooper's ''Tasmania's Team of the Century'' painting, with gravel visible in the knees of Queenstown-born Australian football legend Ian Stewart.<ref>JCAP, [http://www.jcap.com.au/image?img=54&art=jc Tasmania's Team of the Century] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110216212539/http://www.jcap.com.au/image?img=54&art=jc |date=16 February 2011 }}, retrieved 25 September 2010</ref>
==References== {{Commons category|Queenstown Oval}}{{Reflist}}
Category:Sports venues in Tasmania Category:Australian rules football grounds Category:Queenstown, Tasmania Category:1895 establishments in Australia Category:Sports venues completed in 1895 Category:Tasmanian Heritage Register Category:Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees