Scone Area

Scone is a pleasant rural centre of wide, tree-lined streets situated within the Hunter Valley. The commercial and administrative centre of a pastoral, agricultural and dairying shire Scone is an important stock-selling centre noted for its horse and cattle studs.

It is known as 'The Horse Capital of Australia' and claims to be the second-largest horse breeding area in the world, after Kentucky in the United States. The equine focus of the town is reflected in numerous ways: the ten-day Scone Horse Festival in May when there are street parades, a rodeo, stock sales, an airshow, race meetings and entertainment; the six-week Hunter Horse Expo held over September-October; the new hi-tech racecourse with its Equine Research Centre, and the bronze sculpture, 'Scone Mare and Foal' by Gabriel Sterk, prominently situated beside the highway in Elizabeth Park.