Adelaide Rowing Club - The First Hundred Years

Introduction

Chapter one page 1 2

Compilation of this History

The Club's early history was published in 1924 and 1925 by the Hon. Secretary, J.M. Jay, who covered the period 1882-1889 in six extracts in six consecutive numbers of "The A.R.C. Review". Unfortunately the "Review" cost more to produce than its limited number of supporters were prepared to pay, and it lapsed. Jay's history, gleaned from the original Minute Books of committee and general meetings, is published again in the pages which follow, with comments after each of the six extracts, in order to put his narrative into perspective with later events and with the Adelaide of that time.

After 1889 this history is taken up by the historian appointed by the Centenary Committee, once again by referring to the Minutes of general and committee meetings which have been preserved in the Archives of the Public Library of South Australia, and to press cuttings, programmes and other records which have survived in various scrap books, those originating from the Adelaide Rowing Club itself having been salvaged and re-pasted after flood and fire had taken their toll, and then sensibly entrusted to the same Archives.

1889 ARC members in front of the original shed

Standing l-r: P W Begg, G W Steel, F W Burchell, A Wilson, W A Hughes (at back), L W Grayson, A J Grayson, F H Poole, A J Roberts (at back), J Hardy, L L Reid (partly obscured), W J Longson, G H Dean, A Home, J J Sharp, E Wilson, E C Clucas, E Doswell, J Cairns, H Upton, C Morgan (intogs), F H M Woolley (bhind), J Q Bruce, E Davies, Chas, Atkins, H Adams, E B Finlayson, R J S Adams, A H Wood, - Hill, W Forrester, - Grayson
Seated: John Milne, Caleb Peacock, Sir J C Bray and two coxswains.

Several private sources have also been tapped in the form of scrap books, collections of photographs and Annual Reports; also reminiscences of Older Members, whose names are listed in the Acknowledgements.

This history is mainly about the people who made and still make up the Club, not just about rowing and winning races, and the Editor makes no apology for opinions expressed or implied, or for reasonable assumptions made in this narrative, which of necessity has had to be assembled from many sources and without corroboration. Many gaps there certainly are, and many more stories could be told by many members living today, but the time available and the size of the book contemplated have allowed but a random sampling.

If somebody else feels moved to present a larger, more complete or more hilarious account, it would be welcome, but, as the newspapers say, "No correspondence will be entered into by the Editor".

R.W. RICHARDSON, Editor.
18th February 1982.

Acknowledgements

Help in various forms is hereby acknowledged from the following persons -

C. Amiel	H.A. Ledger
B.P. Bishop	H.V. Menz
K. Buys	W.J. Menz
R.D. Clark	R. Prescott
P.M. Cudmore	Marie K. Richardson
H. Duncan	C.E. Runge
H. Gosse	H.I. Sabey
L.T. Grummet	D. Sarah
G. Hebblewhite	J.T. Sheppard
D.C. Howie	J. Stephenson
R.E. Hudson	W.H. Stephenson
L.A. Jamieson	R. Turnbull
E.P. Jarman	N.W. Winter
'Bub' Jarvis
The staff of the Archives of the Public Library of SA
Material from the late J.M. Jay and the Late A.J. Grayson has been included.