Until 1913, the area now known as Bellerive Oval was an apple orchard in the slow growing eastern shore area. In the mid to late 1800s, football and cricket were first played in the area. In 1884 the first football match on record from the area was played between Carlton and Bellerive. However in 1913 a piece of land located between the now Beach, Church and Derwent streets was sold to the Clarence council by the Lewis family. 1 year later, the new Bellerive recreation ground was ready for use.

The ground barely changed from then until the mid '80s. A hump in the centre of the ground made only the top half of players visible from the other side of the ground. There was a shed for players located where the main pavilion now stands. There was a hill on the outer (where the hill now is) that could accomodate two rows of vehicles, the small scoreboard stood on the outer close to where the now electronic scoreboard is, and the time clock sat about halfway up a training light tower. The police booth sat, until very recently, in the north-east corner of the oval. A concrete cricket pitch served for local junior teams until the 1956/57 season, when it was replaced by a dodgy turf wicket.

The Clarence Football Club, a tennant of the ground, applied to join the Tasmanian Football League in 1948, but had to upgrade the oval to TFL standards.

Some minor upgrades were made in the 1960s, clubrooms were built in 1961, and in 1963 a small grandstand (seating about half a thousand) and new PA system installed.

In 1977, Tasmania gained admission into the Sheffield Shield and a plan was put in place by the TCA to move from its headquarters at the TCA Ground on the Domain to a new oval. Bellerive Oval was chosen ahead of KGV Oval and North Hobart Oval, and $2,200,000 was spent building new grandstands, training nets, a hill, new surface and centre wicket, the old TCA Ground scoreboard was relocated there, and the masterpiece - the three level Members' Pavilion at Bellerive. The move was made in 1987 under TCA Chairman Denis Rogers, in time for its first international match - between Sri Lanka and New Zealand on January 12, 1988, before a crowd of 6,500. It was the 4th international match in Tasmania, after games in 1985 (TCA Ground - 6,000 attendance), 1986 (NTCA Ground, Launceston - 9,786), and 1987 (Devonport Oval - 10,000).

The first test match in Tasmania was played at Bellerive from the 16th-20th of December, 1989, between Australia and Sri Lanka. Shortly afterwards, the new electronic scoreboard and Northern Stand were erected.

In 1999 came the announcement that the Federal Government would give $5 million dollars to the upgrading of Bellerive. The TCA added an extra $10 million to upgrade on loan from the state government, and the Clarence City Council an extra 1 million dollars for a massive $16 million upgrade. The first part of this upgrade was the state-of-the-art indoor nets. The massive 6,000 seater Southern Stand came next, which blocked winds and views of the Derwent, and some of the best media facilities on the planet. The new Members' Area was the last of the upgrades, along with new perimeter fence and entry gates, and made the Northern area of the ground look complete. It features press and radio media areas, corporate boxes and lunchrooms, as well as the players areas, member's bars and TCA offices. The redevelopment was officially opened on January 11, 2003, when an overcrowd of 16,719 witnessed a thrilling one day match between Australia and the old foes England, with Australia winning in a thriller. Tasmanian Tiger Shane Watson became the hero for Australia, bowling the very tense final over.

As well as being the home of domestic and international cricket and the Clarence Football Club in the now SFL, Bellerive Oval served in 2003 as a home to the Tasmania Devils in the VFL. The first match attracted the highest VFL roster match crowd since 1986 - 6,970. The venue also hosted Tasmania's two finals matches, with the elimination win against Geelong (4,800) and the massive 10,073 for the semi final against Port Melbourne, which Tassie lost after squandering a 23 point lead at three quarter time.