Queenstown Oval

Queenstown Oval is one of the most infamous sports grounds in Australia. Infamous for the fact that its playing surface is gravel.

"The Gravel" can be found by driving along Batchelor Street, Queenstown just near the town centre where you’ll find a Motel just near a wooden bridge. Cross the bridge to gain access to the ground. The stadium is an almost surreal place when you enter, with its gravel playing surface, bitumen cycle track around it and eerie hills overlooking it, the place has a life almost of its own.

Queenstown Oval has one main grandstand which is concrete, this replaced the much larger wooden stand which was burnt down by vandals a few years ago. On the opposite side of the ground, the ramshackle looking Kevin Taylor Can Bar sits atop a lush green hill overlooking the field, the lushness of the hill looks completely out of place with the baron-ness of the rest of the place.

The Queenstown FC change rooms building is a fairly large grey brick building located on the grandstand side of the ground, in the Mt Lyell Mine end pocket.
A private house and an old wooden building which may have been another change room and kiosk many years ago sits behind the goals at the Mt Owen end.

It is quite a nice little ground, and the view from the stand is very good, as it is from the Can Bar on the hill.

It is quite amazing to see the numbers of tourists who stop to take photos of this bizarre looking ground. "The Gravel" has hosted football and community events in Queenstown for well over a century, and legend has it, that it was the first ground in Tasmania to install a siren to signal the start and end of each quarter with a siren borrowed from the Mt Lyell Mines.

It was also the grand final venue for the now extinct WTFA for almost a hundred years. The ground is home of the Queenstown Crows in the Darwin Football Association.

A richly historical ground, rugged and tough - seems in keeping with the area where it is located.