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Crown Land, Elizabeth Annie Morris, Elizabeth Saunders, George Saunders, horseracing, JCU Library, Louisa Emma BENTON, National Library of Australia, Queensland State Archives, Springfield, Suffolk Punch, Townsville Times, Townsville Turf Club, Trove
Throughout his time in Townsville George Saunders exhibited a passion for horses. He gained an income through trading horses and breeding the Suffolk Punch draught horse. Training racehorses occupied much of his time.
Image 1. Horses on Saunders Beach, taken 2015. From the early 1880s the Saunders family resided at Springfield, a 2 100 hectares property which nowadays takes in the current Saunders Beach. The Saunders used to ride socially on the beach and no doubt George Saunders used to train his racehorses on the beach.
Lord George, a bay gelding and perhaps named for his owner, raced in the Townsville Turf Club’s 1875 Christmas Races.