Oakbank Racecourse in South Australia is one of the oldest and most famous racing venues in Australia due its status as a unique venue for jumps racing.

Oakbank racecourse, located near Onkaparinga in the Adelaide Hills 30km west of the Adelaide CBD, was established in the early 1870s and became famous for its Easter racing carnival.

The Oakbank course had its origins when the proprietors of the Oakbank Brewery decided to lay a track alongside the brewery for their own entertainment on Easter Monday from 1873. The Onkaparinga Race Club conducted racing at Oakbank for more than 100 years until it underwent a name change to the Oakbank Racing Club late last century.

Oakbank is one of the least used major racecourses in Australia. Until 2009 Oakbank Racing Club hosted on two race meetings annually on Easter Saturday and Easter Monday but now conducts an extra prelude meeting two weeks before Easter.

The two Easter meetings have previously attracted crowds of more than 100,000 over the two days due its unique rural location, picnic atmosphere and the spectacle of jumps and flat racing around a steeply undulating course.

Sadly that has diminished over the last decade with lesser attendances. The jumps races have much smaller numbers these days.

Oakbank Racing Club’s most famous race is the Great Eastern Steeplechase, first run on Easter Monday in 1876. The Great Eastern Steeplechase is run over 4950m and 24 obstacles, making it the second longest race in Australia behind Warrnambool’s Grand Annual Steeplechase (5500m).

The also run the Onkaparinga Cup, Oakbank Stakes and Von Doussa Steeplechase at Oakbank.

In 2018 and 2019, the Great Eastern was won by the champion jumper Zed Em.