Jubilee Oval, venue for show, hosts exceptional 1904 South Australian football final away from the usual Adelaide Oval

Part of the crowd for Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society show events at Jubilee Oval, between the Jubilee Exhibition building on North Terrace and the River Torrens, Adelaide city.in 1913.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

Not far from Adelaide Oval, the Jubilee Oval was created in 1895, between the Jubilee Exhibition building on North Terrace and the River Torrens. It was next to the railway station at the end of the Jubilee Exhibition railway line that operated 1887-1927 from Adelaide Railway Station.

The oval incorporated a banked cycle racing track with a grandstand and mound seating built in 1896. The Jubilee Oval hosted the 1904 South Australian Football Association grand final won by Norwood over Port Adelaide. This was the only time the South Australian football premiership wasn’t decided at Adelaide Oval or Football Park.

The Jubilee Oval was created in part for the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society as a venue for the Royal Adelaide Show, replacing its Old Exhibition Grounds, which had been the show’s home for 50 years. The autumn show was staged at the Jubilee Building in May 1895, with the horse events on the oval. In 1896, the first livestock show was presented at the new site.

The first sporting contest held on the oval may have been a cricket friendly between the land titles office and government treasury in February 1895, using a matting wicket. The next month saw a match between two departments of the South Australian Register newspaper.

The first race on the cycle track was in July 1895.

The first South Australian Football Association match at the oval was Norwood v. West Adelaide on May 7,1898. It became North Adelaide Football Club's home ground 1898-1901 and 1904.

The 1904 South Australian Football Association ninth grand final at Jubilee Oval was won by Norwood by four points before 15,000 spectators. Norwood was down by 35 points at three-quarter time against traditional rival Port Adelaide. In an extraordinary burst, a goal by centre half forward Dean Dawson followed by two each from full forward Bill Miller and flanker Stan Robinson had Norwood only two points down with a minute remaining. Tommy Gibbons held a mark on a seemingly impossible angle and kicked the winning goal,

Considered too small for football, the Jubilee’s last league game was in July 1921 when South Adelaide defeated West Adelaide

In October 1923, Australia played out a 2-0 soccer draw with China at Jubilee Oval in front of about 9000 people.

Apart from agricultural shows and football, the oval was put to other uses such as motorcycle and bicycle racing, trotting, athletics, lacrosse, Boy Scout jamborees, military training and a quarantine camp during the influenza epidemic of 1919.

The Jubilee Oval disappeared when its area was taken over by Adelaide University after the Royal Adelaide Show moved to Wayville in 1925.