History of UTS Haberfield Rowing Club
Haberfield on Active Service
“Sons of this place! Let this of you be said.
That you who live are worthy of your dead.
These died – that you who live may reap.
A richer harvest ere you fall asleep.”
Along with other clubs in the New South Wales Rowing Association, Haberfield contributed its quota of oarsmen who were on active service during the World War of 1939-45. As far as we have been able to compile the list, they were as follows:-
R.A.N.
Challenger, A.
Regan, K.
Tribe, H.
Walker, G.
Wilson, A.
A.I.F.
Beattie, N.
Blunden, A.
Briggs, R.
Case, W.
Chapman, R.
Chapman, W.
Cholerton, E.
Clarke, J.
Creaser, W. H.
De Belle. R.
Donnelly, M.
Donnelly, W.
Eddie, A.A.
Eddie, J.W.
Eling, R.
Firth. E.
Hales, A.
Halpin, K.
Harrison, G.
Hawkins, S.
Holman, R.
Hore, R.
Johnstone, W.
Kidd. J.
McIntyre, W.
Meani, W.
Maloney, R.
Mossong, V.
Roberts, A.
Robinson, L.
Sims, R.
Swain, R.
Taffa, E.
Twigg, W.
Tyrer, L.
Walsh, C.
Webb, K.
Webb, R. OBE
R.A.A.F.
Brown, H.
Brown, L.
Campbell, F.
Chalcroft, L.
Collier, A.
Crown, L.
De Belin, F.
Dalrymple, A.
Dawson, F.
Day, R.
Hansford, G.
Holden, K.
Holmes, C. W.
Howlett, H.
McCafferty, C.
Malcolm, P.
Marks, D.
Mecham, P.
Montgomery, L.
Proudman, G.
Randall, R.
Rossi, T.
Taylor, W.
Westacott, J.W.
White, C. H.
White, J. O.
Williams, C.
Wilson, C.
Worboys, C.
Merchant Navy
Fitzmaurice, J.
Hall, R.
Three of our members made the supreme sacrifice, Alan Wilson at sea with the Royal Navy, Arthur Roberts at El Alamein with the 9th Australian Division and Cyril Worboys in the air over Europe with the Royal Air Force. These three young men had actively participated in races and were very popular in the club. They had brought glory to Haberfield by reason of their rowing prowess, but no race they ever won reflected such glory on themselves or on Haberfield as their splendid dedication to their country.
Much could be written about the scores of other young men who went abroad from this club during the war, but space will only allow the retelling of a few adventures as they appeared in the daily papers. About club members services in general however, it can be said that 95% of the Club’s senior members when war broke out saw Active Service, in such places as Syria, Libya, Greece, Crete, Malta, Iraq, England, India, Malaya, Darwin, Borneo, and New Guinea, several were wounded in action, while others gained decorations.
Firstly then about Arthur Collier who served as a Pilot in No. 3 Squadron, R.A.A.F. in the North African, Tunisian and Sicilian campaigns. Arthur will long be remembered in Haberfield Club for his wild driving of cars, bikes etc., members will also recall Collier breaking his leg when his bike left the road on the way to Pittwater Regatta in 1939.
London, Monday (March, 1943) an Australian Squadron’s mess somewhere in Italy looked up in surprise when in walked a tramp-like figure clad in a tattered, smelly civilian suit. Then the whole mess rose up shouting “Collier”! It was Flight Sargeant Arthur Collier, formerly of Haberfield Rowing Club Sydney who little more than a fortnight before had failed to return from a raid. Collier made a belly landing with his Kittyhawk and then began a series of strange adventures.
He realised his only chance of escape was in pretending to be bomb-happy. “When two Germans shoved their Tommy guns at me, I was hanging a water bottle in one finger and jabbering away in a language neither they nor I could understand”, he said. “They ran their hands over me in a swift search, which fortunately failed to reveal my gun. They apparently were satisfied I was a harmless half-wit, for they allowed me to go.”
Collier told how Italian civilian dug up some old clothes and an embroidered nightdress for a shirt, in which he made his escape.
The next story of a Haberfield Oarsman is one pf the 9th Division in the Middle East and is taken from a Queensland paper.
Shortly after the 9th Division was withdrawn from the desert and the Battalions moved in convoy back to Palestine Ismalia, one of the staging camps, situated on the banks of the Suez Canal, providing an opportunity for a welcome swim after the long desert trip. Here it was that some of the lads staged a race event for that part of the world – a midnight regatta.
Tommies stationed there invited the lads over to their mess for the evening and astounded us by supplying nothing less than Australian beer. It wasn’t long before Tommies and Australian were swapping lies with great gusto. Conversation turned to rowing and the famous Henley Regatta, with the Tommies loudly praising the ability of their oarsmen.
The “Tiny” an ex-Haberfield Sydney rower, said his piece, culminating in a challenge to any bleedin’ English man to show his stuff there and then. He found a talker in, a six foot Tommy Sergeant who looked as if he could row the “Queen Mary”. Down to the canal the crowd trooped, and two pontoon boats were provided. Bets were made on the respective champions as they lined up for the start. A quarter mile course was paced off and the race was on.
“Tiny” and the Sergeant both could row. The unwieldy boats raced through the water like racing “shells” and the boys paced the bank shouting encouragement. Local “Wogs” turned out when they heard the noise and the banks certainly looked like a boat race crowd. Tommy won by 10 yards but it was a good race and both men returned to the mess full of admiration for the other’s prowess. We learnt later, that the Englishman was killed at Alamein, but whenever his name crops up, the talk always turns to the night we held our moonlight regatta.
Now and again during the war, information would come to hand of the doings of rowing club members abroad. Extracts from reports in the daily press were as follows:-
“The names of A.I.F. personnel who have been mentioned in dispatches for distinguished service in Crete, were released today by the Army Minister (Mr. Forde). They included Sgt. R. Webb of Haberfield”. “Missing, believed prisoner of war, Sgt. A. Case. Five Dock, formerly on the staff of Woolworths Ltd., and a member of Haberfield Rowing Club.” “First Australian to land in Tokyo after the surrender, was Flying Officer Bill Taylor of Haberfield and former N.S.W. representative oarsman whose plane flew in the Australian envoys for the signing of the peace treaty”. “Australian troops held an acquatic carnival and regatta on the lake at the foothills of the Finisterre Range, new Guinea, during the Christmas season. Although the lake was only a few miles from Japanese positions, the carnival was extremely successful. Sculling was a feature of the carnival. Troops constructed their own boats for these events. Some used hewn out logs which had been fashioned into rowing craft. The singles race was won by Gnr. K. Webb of Haberfield, Sydney” – Department of Information Press Release.
Thus a composite picture of Haberfield members on active service shows that even when in the thick of it they were always ready to take part in rowing at every opportunity.
Which brings us now to Haberfield Abroad, as the A.I.F. crew which raced in the 1941-42 Palestine Championship Regatta was stroked by Vic Mossong Haberfield’s pre-war Captain, I think the story of that crew deserves its place in this book. This race was to be the last appearance of a Haberfield Oarsman in International or Interstate races for nearly five years. Now for Vic’s story as it appeared in a letter home.
“November, 1941, found us back in the promised land after spending eight months in the desert of which seven were spent in Tobruk. Sport was the order of the day, so units had their teams of various sports going in full swing, but it was not until a week or so before November 22nd, 1941, that the oarsmen learnt that there was to be an eight oar race for the Palestine Championships. This meant hurried preparation to find which oarsmen were available for selection, the final crew chosen to represent Artillery was as follows: R. Evans 11.4 Mosman (bow), M. Hagar 11.0 Derwent Tas (2), R. Semple 13.0 Preston Vic (3), C. Murray 12.0 Sydney (4), A. Calder 14.7 Mercantile Vic (5) (he had rowed against Haberfield in the 1938 Grant Challenge Cup final at Henley and the 1939 King’s Cup), R. White 13.7 Tamar Tas (6), F. Allard 14.0 Derwent Tas (7), Vic Mossong 13.0 Haberfield (stroke).
“A large crowd turned out to see the regatta, which was held on the Yarkon River, Tel-a-viv. The heats were rowed in the morning and the results were as follows: Hapoel Rowing Club won from the Palestine Police Rowing Club, while in the second heat Australian Artillery won from Australian Infantry. The finals were rowed in the afternoon. The boats were of clinker type, as generally used for practice in Australia. It was here in the finals that we of the Artillery had some fun.
“Having lost the toss for boats, we had to take the heavier one, but we had the choice of positions. The boat had to be made lighter somehow. It having heavy floor boards we decided to discard with same but the caretaker of the club, in broken English, tried to tell us that we had to row with them in, and we said, “Oh, no we don’t.” Out they came and put they did come to make the boat some 50 lbs. lighter.
“The start of the race was by the dropping of a flag by the starter. About 50 yards after the start we led by nearly a length and were going well. At the half way mark, we still had that lengths lead, and here our rivals challenged us. I allowed them to draw up until we only had about a quarter of a length lead from them. Then I called on the boys and we went away again to nearly a length. Just near the finish, they came at us again, and try as we might to stave them off we could not, as our condition was giving out, and we went under by three quarters of s length. I am sure that if our crew could have had some training Hapoal would not have seen which way we went, as they had four month’s training compared with our one week’s. “
The final story in this chapter is not about a Haberfield Oarsman, but of Joe Burk the great American sculler whose record included four times winner U.S.A. National Champion, four time Canadian Champion, twice winner of the Diamond Sculls and holder of record for this classic, Winner of Philadelphia Gold Cup 1940 World’s Championships, recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award in 1939.
Joe Burk was the skipper of U.S. Navy PT boat which carried out many special missions for the Australian Army, and that is the reason for including extracts from a letter received from him and to show that in peace or war, the fellowship of oarsmen is world wide.
Firstly, the story of how he won the Navy Medal, second highest of U.S. awards. This story is from a U.S. weekly. “Joe Burk was a lanky, wide-eyed kid who couldn’t keep away from the water, he learnt to row, eventually became the world’s sculling champion. War brought Joe, appropriately, to the Navy. The Navy made him an officer and skipper of a speedy PT boat. Burk concentrated on a particular target: Jap landing barges. Soon he found himself a champ for the second time in his life. His record, 13 Jap barges sent to the bottom.
Joe was a mild young man did not drink, smoke or swear. Last week, in describing how, while running Australian up the coast on a special job, a dozen Japs thwarted his efforts to rescue them after he had sank their barge. Burk without falling back on strong language, used strong words “They were squealing and putting up a terrific fuss. There was nothing to do but eradicate them.”
In a letter to Kevyn Webb some time after this event he said, “Right now I am back where I saw you last. Very surprisingly, my orders have been sent for my return to the States. After the last time you came with us, we had rather fair hunting but not as good as we had hoped. The war certainly is moving faster all, the time and it has become a problem to keep up with it. So different from those days a year ago when I first met you. Sooner or later I may get my chance to use your single at Haberfield Club, many thanks for the offer. Best of luck in future operations and here’s hoping we get together dome day in Tokyo. Sincerely Joe Burk.
Last, but not least in this chapter, mention must be made of Glen Marr, P.O.W. of the Japs in Malaya. Although a member of Leichhardt Rowing Club, Glen spent so much time with Haberfield oarsmen that his return to Australia after the war was just as great joy to our oarsmen as it was to our Leichhardt friends. This then is the true spirit of rowing.