The Adelaide Hunt Club is an Australian fox hunting club founded in the 1840s.

History
Originally called The Adelaide Hounds, the club was founded in Adelaide in the early 1840s. As early as 3 July 1841, the Governor of South Australia Sir George Grey KCB along with about 25 horsemen, hounds and ladies in carriages met for a day’s hunting, on this day a wild dog was the quarry.  Without foxes to hunt, wild dogs, kangaroos and emus were the early quarry.  
 
Due to lack of support, hunting declined in Adelaide and the pack was dispersed in the 1850s but was revived in 1869 by a group of wealthy sportsmen led by William Blackler, who imported sufficient hounds to form a pack. 
The first hunt with his pack was held on 24 May of that year and attracted many interested huntsmen and spectators.
In 1871, after a dispute with the Club, Blackler withdrew his support, and at the instigation of James A. Ellery passed his pack to the newly-formed South-East (later Mount Gambier) Hunt Club.
  
Deer hunting was attempted on several occasions, but provided rather pedestrian sport and the most interesting riding was provided by drag hunting, where an aniseed scent trail was dragged over a course guaranteed to present challenges to the abilities of horse and rider. 
 
The club is very closely linked with the city’s history with events such as the annual ball and steeplechase being social highlights of the new colony. The pack was originally kennelled at various locations on the Adelaide Plains although urban expansion meant they had to move in the late-1900s. The club's current kennels are located at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills.

In 1901 Simpson Newland was president of the club, which at that time held regular meets in the Erindale area.

Officials
Masters (full title: Master of the Foxhounds, MFH) of the Adelaide Hounds included:
1844: C. Campbell
1847: Thomas Shayle
1851, 1852: William van Sittart
1855: Arthur Malcom
1862: W. van Sittart

Masters of the Adelaide Hunt Club include:
(Elections were held around April of each year)
1869: William Blackler
1870: E. G. Blackmore
1871: William Blackler
1872: H. E. Downer
1873: Seth Ferry
1874: John Hart
1875: Arthur Rait Malcom 
1876: John Hart
1877–1878: Sir J. Lancelot Stirling
1879: H. E. Downer
1880-1881: Sir J. Lancelot Stirling
1882: Harry Bickford
1883–1884: James Hay (son of Alexander Hay)
1885: E. G. Blackmore
1886–1892: Allan Baker (son of John Baker)
1893–1897: Frank H. Downer
1898–1900: John Tennant Love
1901–1904: H. C. Cave
1905–1906: R. A. Sanders
1907–1909: Carew Reynell
1910–1912: W. S. Bright
1913: K. Lister Colley, grandson of Richard Bowen Colley
1914–1915: Ernest M. Luxmoore
1919–1921: E. M. Luxmoore
1922: J. J. Mortimer
1923: E. M. Luxmoore
1924–1928: Paul Teesdale Smith
1929–1932: W. P. A. Lapthorne
1933–1936: E. M. Luxmoore
1937–1939: Francis C. Bickford
1940: E. M. Luxmoore
Recess during WWII
1946–1948: Tom Downer
1949: T. H. Hawkes
1950–1951: Keith Frayne
1952–1954: James R. Balharry

Race meetings
The first Hunt Club race meeting was held at the Thebarton Course on 2 October 1869. Races held were: Hunt Club Cup, Amateur Flat Race, Hunters' Stakes and Hurry Skurry.
The meeting was held at the Adelaide Old Racecourse from 1870 to 1874, then Morphettville from 1875 to 1884; then the S.A.J.C. became insolvent and Morphettville was mortgaged and the Hunt Club held its meetings at the Old Course 1885 then back to Morphettville 1886 to 1914, 
Victoria Park in 1915, then a break until 1919.

References

Bibliography
 Adelaide Hunt Club website, www.adelaidehuntclub.com.au, retrieved 2 October 2016.
 Baily’s hunting directory, "Adelaide Hunt Club", www.bailyshuntingdirectory.com, retrieved 2 October 2016.
 Brown, Judith M., Town life in pioneer South Australia, Rigby, 1980, .

1840s establishments in Australia
Sports clubs and teams established in the 1840s
Sports clubs and teams in Adelaide
Fox hunts in Australia
Hunting organizations