The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s premier annual horserace. It is run over a distance of 3.2km at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne and is known in Australia and worldwide as ‘the race that stops a nation’. It is the richest ‘two-mile’ handicap in the world and offers the richest prize in Australian sport – an 18ct solid gold trophy valued at AU$175,000 (US$135,000). The race takes place at 3 pm on the first Tuesday in November. 

The first Melbourne Cup took place in 1861, and was won by Archer, who won 170 pounds and a gold watch. 

Melbourne Cup day is a federal holiday across the state of Victoria and a public holiday for everyone within the city area Melbourne and other parts of Victoria. Some towns and cities in Victoria may instead observe a local public holiday on the date of their spring carnivals. 

Women have been participating since 1987. To date, the only female jockey to have won the Melbourne Cup is Michelle Payne, who won in 2015. 

From 2007 to 2009, it was celebrated as Family and Community Day in the Australian Capital Territory, but the date changed and that holiday is being replaced by Reconciliation Day in 2018. 

It has been recorded as public holiday going back to 1865 when it was a half-holiday in Melbourne for public servants and bank officials. 

In Melbourne, public transport will operate to a public holiday timetable except for the routes to Flemington Racecourse. Transportation to and from the airport will operate as normal. Most large stores and shopping centres will be open. Australia Post will not make any local mail or parcel deliveries, including Express Post items.