Ardon still stands today just as it did when built 1897 - 1898. Heritage listed with the Brisbane City Council the heritage details can be found here. https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/citation/ardon-_871.pdf
For over fifty years Ardon and the Ardon Stables were the home of the Tucker family. William Tucker or "Old Bill" Tucker or W. J. Tucker is now one of those legendary figures in Queensland's horse racing history. Built for the Tucker family the stables must have been adjoining or very close by in Bowley Street, Hendra. In 1952 when the estate was put up for sale there were two separate sales. Firstly the house Ardon and secondly a separate block suitable for building on.
The Tucker family spanned a number of generations within the horse racing industry but Ardon is the place where it all started. Of personal interest to me is that William Tucker married Alice Robinson who is the sister of my great Grandmother, Elizabeth Emily Robinson. I have written about the Robinson family from Coorparoo in another web site. This particular web link has information relating to the horse racing of Coorparoo and the Tucker and Kirwan families.
http://sivyer.com.au/photo-gallery/robinson/
William James Tucker B:1868 D:1949
The following two newspaper articles from the time of his death are a very good summery of his life an d the activities that would have taken place at the Ardon house and stables of Bowley Street, Hendra.
Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), Friday 5 August 1949, page 23
DEATH OF MR. W. J. TUCKER.
Mr. W. J. Tucker, for more than 50 years an outstanding figure in Queensland racing, died at his home, Rowley Street, Hendra, today. The late Mr. Tucker, as a lad, won the first race ever decided at Albion Park. It was known then as Smithfield. He was not quite three when he arrived in Australia in the boat captained by his father. His early ambition was to be a circus tumbler and trick rider but economic conditions his father died shortly after his arrival here forced him to turn (his natural ability to handle -horses to quick advantage. He won two races at the age of 11, graduating to the horses from Pony events at Lytton. At one stage of his career, he rode two winners at Lytton ; and then rode hard to Smithfield, where he rode two more. A first-class shot, there was little in the way of acrobatics or sport at which he did not excel. The story is told that, on one occasion, when he was travelling to Gympie with horses by road, he won a boomerang throwing competition against blacks, though he had never handled the weapon before! As a young man he owned, trained and rode his own horses, later becoming a public trainer. He met with continued success until his retirement about 15 years ago. The late Mr. Tucker, an owner- jockey, won the Moreton Handicap and Sandgate Handicaps with Little Tartar, the Windsor Handicap with Ardon. As owner, he won the Guineas with Mischief and Bold Step, the Queensland Cup with St. Quentin, Sea Breeze, Tetupha, Soft Step, the Brisbane Cup with Demeranthis. He raced Spear Chief in partnership with the late Mr. J. B. Charlton. He won, for the partners, the Sires' Produce Stakes, Guineas, Derby. St. Leger and a Brisbane Cup. Soft Step won him a St. Leger, too. The late Mr. Tucker is survived by three sons, W. A. and A. E. Tucker, who are licensed trainers, and E.G., former successful jockey. The funeral will leave his late residence, 17 Bowley Street, for the Nundah Cemetery at 11 a.m. Monday.
Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 14 August 1949, page 45
QLD RACING LOOSES BY DEATH OF TRAINER BILL TUCKER
No more colorful personality has been associated with racing in Brisbane since its inception than thelate W. J. (Billy) Tucker; who was called before the Supreme Steward last week after a lifetime of active association with horse racing. Riding his first winner at the age of ll years, Billy carried on as a jockey even after his son, 'Young Bill,' had also adopted that profession. Then, as trainer and owner, 'Old Bill' went on to win every important race on the calendar cups and classic events on numerous occasions.
Many of the racetracks on which W. J. Tucker cut his teeth are long since gone and for the most part, .forgotten. Only yery oldtimers remember race meetings being conducted at Oxley, Lytton, Coorparoo (under registered rules) and Breakfast Creek, when what is now known as Albion Park was a much smaller track. Breakfast Creek and Coorparoo meetings, under different proprietary interests, sometimes staged clash meetings on Saturday afternoons, and it was quite common for Billy Tucker to ride at both courses on the same day. On one occasion, after riding two winners at Coorparoo he raced his hack to the Creek and there was no short cut via Story Bridge at that time. Passing through The Valley, the hack fell, but without serious injury to the rider, who went on to Breakfast Creek where he rode another winner.
Hurdle racing was a feature of meetings at Eagle Farm in the days that Tucker rode, but he did not persevere with that branch of sport. In six such races, he rode three winners and had three falls 'a good average' he would say when he could be prevailed on to talk of his early days. There was a dash of the daredevil in Bill when he was a jockey. He could jump off and on horses like a circus rider when at full gallop. He did so in a race on one occasion with disastrous results. He was so far in front on a horse named Robert Emmett at the Farm that he decided to turn on a stunt. He jumped off the horse and back again nearing the winning post. Officialdom frowned on such frivolity, and disqualified the winner on the ground, that 'the rider had dismounted before being ordered to do so.' And some people refer to that era as the free-and-easy days. As a trainer and owner, Tucker won the Queensland Cup on seven occasions, and the Brisbane Cup as many times. There was no better judge of a yearling than he, and auctioneers and spectators, as well, always knew when he had decided to acquire one or more according to the number of knee boots and other safeguarding impedimenta he took to the sales. Having made his choice he would not be denied, and when he went to the figures indicated in the names of Six-Fifty and Seven-Fifty, it was regarded as sensational bidding. Until about 20 years ago 'Old Bill' declared that Mischief, with whom he won the Guineas in 1909, was the best horse he ever rode or trained. Later, he had a leaning towards Spear Chief, with whom he won, in partnership with the late J. B. Charlton, the Brisbane Cap in 1939, and which horse, after being sold, was successful in the same race with 9.7 in record time in the following- year. And so Billy Tucker has passed on. But memory of him will linger on, and the records of Brisbane racing, in which his name appears so often, will remain a monument to his ability In all three branches of the sport he loved and adorned.
June 28 1952 Daily Standard Brisbane
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