From Acton to Thoroughbred Park: Canberra’s racing legacy | The Canberra Times

How different the scene was on February 12, 1926, when the first Canberra Cup race took place at the now flooded Acton Racecourse. Canberra was still newly minted as the national capital, and where the National Museum of Australia now stands stood a jumbled collection of temporary government buildings. Apart from the old Canberra House, home of the chief commissioner of the Federal Capital Territory, and a row of farmhouses, there was little in Cooee.