Chukkas and champagne: inside Australia’s polo summer

Polo in Australia is older than Federation: the first recorded match in the country was played in Sydney in 1874. It has become the centrepiece of a summer social calendar that runs from the Mornington Peninsula to the Gold Coast.

Portsea Polo. Founded in 2002 by David Calvert-Jones, it is played on a Saturday in mid-January at Jarman Oval near Point Nepean. It has regularly drawn up to 6,000 spectators and raises money for the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

Magic Millions Polo & Showjumping. Held during the Gold Coast’s January racing and bloodstock carnival, it combines two polo matches with showjumping, fashions on the field and the traditional divot stomp. Zara and Mike Tindall attended in January 2026. The 2027 edition is set for Sunday 10 January at Doug Jennings Park, with the Argentine player Nacho Figueras and Delfi Blaquier among the names promoted.

Sydney Polo Club. On the Hawkesbury River at Richmond, with three full-size fields, the club hosted the 2017 World Polo Championship and runs the annual Sydney Gold Cup.

The etiquette is simple: dress for the lawn, not the nightclub, flat shoes for the divot stomp, and never walk behind a pony.