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 Australian Henley1900-1909
6: The War Years 1910-1919
7: Women's rowing and the modern era 1920-1929
8: The Depression Rebuild 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 - this chapter is under construction

Rowing in the regions

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

Geelong

Rowing commenced in Geelong shortly after rowing in the Melbourne town area despite being only a 1/10th of the size of their cousins in Melbourne town.

The regatta took place on Saturday 20th March 1844 and the Stewards were Captain Wycherley, Charles John Dennys and Charles Sladen, Modest prizes of either 4 or 5 pounds were provided.

Competitor numbers were low but four competitors, Wycherley, Dennys, Sladen and Luck, took part in three different events. Both Dennys and Sladen took part in the regatta, with vessels named Shamrock and Lucy respectively. Both were about 18 feet in length and it seems they constituted the entire local entries, and that the other boats taking part were from visiting ships lying at anchor off Point Henry¹.

Footnotes

Jolly Dogs Are We - The History of Yachting in Victoria 1838-94, by Ralph Neale, published by Landscape Publications 1984, page 41

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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:

andrewguerin@rowinghistory-aus.info

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 - 2025
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.