History of Rowing Victoria Inc

1: Rowing in a young Victoria 1838-1859
2: Formation of the Association 1860-1875
3: Growth of the Sport 1876-1889
4: Years of great success 1890-1899
5: The rise of Henley on the Yarra 1900-1909
6: The War Years 1910-1919
7: Women's rowing and the modern era 1920-1929
8: The Depression years 1930-1939
9: War and rebuilding 1940-1949
10: Expansion years 1950-1959
11: The search for international success 1960-1969
12: Combining the Associations and lightweight success 1970-1979
13: The new national program 1980-1989
14: Golden years 1990-1999
15: Professionalism 2000-2009
16: Yet More Growth 2010-2019
17: Challenging Times 2020-2026
Appendices
1: Life Membership and other important awards
2: Patrons and Presidents
3: Office Bearers
4: Clubs and their histories
5: The Oarsmen's Centotaph and WWI Roll of Honour
6: WWII Roll of Honour
7: Premierships
8: State Championships
9: Hall of Fame Inductees
10: Victorian Olympians
11: International representation
12: Intercolonial and Interstate Racing
13: School rowing
14: University rowing
15: Histories of Victorian Rowing
16: Annual Reports

1. Rowing in a young Victoria, 1838 to 1860

The gold rush 1851-1860

Chapter 1 page 1, 2, 3, 4

Page 1 - Rowing in Melbourne prior to the gold rush 1838-1851

Page 2 - The gold rush 1851-1860

Page 3 - Rowing in the regions

Page 4 - Rowing around Australia

1857 sculling match

Michael Cannon reported on a sculling race in 1857 on the Yarra, no doubt for a wager. Rowing contests, which had been popular in Sydney since 1818, took some time to reach Melbourne. A great sculling match took place in June 1857 between Alfred Holland and William Jewiss, who raced five miles from Hawthorn Bridge to Church Street, Richmond, in 32-foot cedar boats fitted with outriggers. Holland won by two lengths, but after a protest the race was declared a draw.¹

Footnotes

Melbourne After the Gold Rush by Michael Cannon page 299 published by Loch Haven Books 1993

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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.