John Wall Hardey owned the Grove Farm estate on which the first thoroughbred racing meeting held in the Belmont area took place in 1848
John Wall Hardey owned the Grove Farm estate on which the first thoroughbred racing meeting held in the Belmont area took place in 1848, hence why one of Ascot Racecourse's premium spots is the 1848 Lounge.
The success of the 1848 races resulted in a site on Hardey's Grove Farm property being selected for what is known today as Ascot Racecourse but initially was named Perth Racecourse. Hardey, who arrived in the Swan River Colony aboard the Tranby in 1830, was hugely influential in the development of the Belmont district until his death in 1885.
Hardey was a Member of the Legislative Council in several spells and he was a religious man, as was his younger brother, Joseph Hardey, whom Methodists regard as the father of that movement in Western Australia.