The 1949 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Leyburn Airfield in Queensland, Australia on 18 September 1949.

[5] The Queensland Motor Sporting Club decided that the official practice on the circuit for the 1949 Australian Grand Prix was to be held on 11 and 17 September.

[11] Crouch finished the Grand Prix with a time that was 5 minutes (approximately 2 laps) faster than second placed Ray Gordon[9] who drove an MG TC Special.

[9] Prior to the commencement of the main race, the 1949 Australian Grand Prix, the 28 cars participating did one lap of the course[9] while three Mustangs flew over the airfield performing an aerobatic display.

The 1949 Australian Grand Prix and other events on the programme for the day took place without the occurrence of any crashes[9] despite the heavily gravelled nature of Leyburn Airfield.

[12] It was assumed a crowd of 20,000 spectators would attend the Queensland Motor Sporting Club organised Grand Prix on 18 September 1949.

[6] The crowd exceeded expectations with a total of 30,000 spectators,[9] with some accounts stating 50,000 in attendance[13] to watch John Crouch win the Grand Prix in his 10th attempt at claiming line honours.

[9] An estimated total of six thousand cars were parked on the grounds of Leyburn Airfield with seven planes landing in the morning transporting spectators to the event.

[9] The significant number of people in attendance necessitated a variety of seating methods including bales of wool and large petrol drums on the backs of delivery trucks.

The airfield is located in the south eastern Darling Downs region of Queensland, at an approximate distance of 37 kilometres from Toowoomba.

[6] The flat nature of Leyburn Airfield meant that an unrestricted view for spectators around the entire circuit from all of the vantage points was permitted.

[1] Les Taylor, Vic Johnson, John Nind, Garry Coglan, Dick Cobden and George Pearse all competed in MG vehicles and were forced to retire during the race.

[1] In the 1949 Australian Grand Prix a Hudson Special was driven by Frank Kleinig who started the race on pole position.

[1] Keith Thallon driving the Jaguar SS100 was forced to retire after completing 10 laps[1] due to trouble with a main bearing.

[9] Rex Law was forced to retire from the race after 8 laps in the Buick Special due to overwhelming brake issues.

[9] Charlie Whatmore after completing 10 laps was forced to retire due to a leaking fuel tank that he had incurred in the Studebaker Special.

[9] A concurrent handicap award was won by Luke (Bugatti Type 37) with an adjusted time of 1 hour 39 minutes 7.4 seconds.