John H Dawson

NSW - prominent oar and scull maker

Born in Willoughby in 1847 and died in Mosman in 1932

The following obituary appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Friday 7 October 1932, page 13.

Mr. John H. Dawson, who died at the residence of his son, at Shadforth-street, Mosman, man Sunday last, was at one time Sydney's famous scull and oar maker. His patrons included many former champion scullers, among them being N. Trickett, E. Hanlon, W. ("Bill") Beach, T. Clifford, E. Laycock. P. Kemp, Richard Green, H. E. Searle, J. Stanbury, N. Matterson, and Chris. Neilson, as well as the amateur champions of that period and the Associated Rowing Clubs of New South Wales and New Zealand, When Richard Green went to England and won the first world's championship he used Dawson sculls, as also did E. Hanlon when he rowed in Australia.

In his declining years Mr. Dawson devoted much of his time to charitable work. He was 87 years of age, and is survived by a son, Mr. Alf. Dawson, of Mosman, and a daughter, Mrs. E. Burns, of Strathfield.

[Editor: The reference to Richard Green winning the World Championship is wrong but he was the first Australian to challenge for it.]

Andrew Guerin
January 2022

Sources:

OBITUARY. (1932, October 7). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 13. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16913208
Judi Dowdell - great grand daughter

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:

Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
These contents of this history are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. However given that the purpose of the history is to assist rowers and rowing clubs, written permission is not required for non-commercial usage by rowers and rowing clubs provided acknowledgement is made.

Disclaimer: Whilst extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied, the editors take no responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from inaccuracies contained in this work.