page_title: Australian Grand Prix
section_title: Pre-war
hierarchical_section_title: Australian Grand Prix / History / Pre-war
caption_attribution_description: English: The Austin 7 of Arthur Waite contesting the 1928 100 Miles Road Race at the Phillip Island road circuit in Victoria, Australia. The race, which was later to be recognised as the first Australian Grand Prix, was won by this entry.
context_page_description: The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually in Australia currently under contract to host Formula One until 2025. The Grand Prix is the second oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia, after the Alpine rally first held in 1921, having been contested 83 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. It is currently sponsored with naming rights by Swiss watchmaker Rolex.
  Prior to its inclusion in the World Championship, it was held at a multitude of venues in every state of Australia. It was a centrepiece of the Tasman Series in most years between 1964 and 1972 and was a round of the Australian Drivers' Championship on many occasions between 1957 and 1983.
  Unusually, even for a race of such longevity, as of 2020 the location of the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venues having been used over its life, a number eclipsing the 16 venues used for the French Grand Prix since its own 1906 start.
  The race became part of the Formula One World Championship in 1985 and was held at the Adelaide Street Circuit in Adelaide, South Australia, from that year to 1995. From 1996 it has been held at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.
context_section_description: While an event called the Australian Grand Prix was staged in 1927 at the grass surface Goulburn Racecourse held as a series of sprints, it is generally accepted that the Australian Grand Prix began as the 100 Miles Road Race held at the Phillip Island road circuit in 1928. The inaugural race was won by Arthur Waite in what was effectively an entry supported by the Austin Motor Company, a modified Austin 7. For eight years, races, first called the Australian Grand Prix in 1929, continued on the rectangular dirt road circuit. This was the era of the Australian "special", mechanical concoctions of disparate chassis and engine that were every bit as capable as the Grand Prix machines imported from Europe. For all the ingenuity of the early Australian mechanic-racers, Bugattis dominated the results, taking four consecutive wins from 1929–1932. The last Phillip Island race was in 1935 and the title lapsed for three years. An AGP style event was held on Boxing Day, 1936 at the South Australian town of Victor Harbor for a centennial South Australian Grand Prix before the Australian Grand Prix title was revived in 1938 for the grand opening of what would become one of the world's most famous race tracks, Mount Panorama just outside the semi-rural town of Bathurst. Only just completed, with a tar seal for the circuit still a year away, the race was won by Englishman Peter Whitehead racing a new voiturette ERA B-Type that was just too fast for the locally developed machinery. One more race was held, at the Lobethal Circuit near the South Australian town of Lobethal in 1939, before the country was plunged into World War II.
caption: Arthur Waite won the 1928 100 Miles Road Race at the Phillip Island road circuit driving an Austin 7
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