Queensland GPS Head of the River
The Great Public Schools' Association of Queensland Boys Head of the River commenced in 1918 when the Association was formed. The adoption of the name Head of the River occurred in 1923, and the first public reference to Great Public Schools' Head of the River in 1937.
The Association currently comprises nine south-east Queensland secondary schools, namely:
Ipswich Grammar School
Brisbane Grammar School
St Joseph's Gregory Terrace
Toowoomba Grammar School
St Joseph's Nudgee College
The Southport School
Brisbane Boys' College
Anglican Church Grammar School
Brisbane State High School
However Ipswich Grammar School and Toowoomba Grammar School have not taken part in rowing.
Gregory Terrace first competed in 1928 but did not compete again until 1954 and Nudgee College first competed in 2002.
No competition was conducted in the period 1942 to 1945 inclusive due to World War II. A "No Race" was declared in 1983 due to multiple protests regarding the outcome of the race.
Brisbane Boys' College has been the most successful school in GPS Rowing based upon 1st VIII premierships.
Earlier Head of the River races were commenced in 1890, well before the Association was formed. Details of these races are documented in this chapter.
The first eight competitors race for the O'Connor Cup, the Head of the River. The Old Boys Cup is awarded to the school on a point score basis for the most successful school at the regatta.
Index to Results
- Pre 1918
- 1918
- 1919
- 1920
- 1921
- 1922
- 1923
- 1924
- 1925
- 1926
- 1927
- 1928
- 1929
- 1930
- 1931
- 1932
- 1933
- 1934
- 1935
- 1936
- 1937
- 1938
- 1939
- 1940
- 1941
- 1942
- 1943
- 1944
- 1945
- 1946
- 1947
- 1948
- 1949
- 1950
- 1951
- 1952
- 1953
- 1954
- 1955
- 1956
- 1957
- 1958
- 1959
- 1960
- 1961
- 1962
- 1963
- 1964
- 1965
- 1966
- 1967
- 1968
- 1969
- 1970
- 1971
- 1972
- 1973
- 1974
- 1975
- 1976
- 1977
- 1978
- 1979
- 1980
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1985
- 1986
- 1987
- 1988
- 1989
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993
- 1994
- 1995
- 1996
- 1997
- 1998
- 1999
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
Sources
We acknowledge the great work of the Late Jack Pritchard in his book Rowing in Queensland 1880-1995 published by Rowing Queensland. Most of the early results and details have been drawn from his book and we are most appreciative of his work. This chapter in the history of Australian Rowing would not be possible without his work.
In more recent times we have used the results from the Rowing Manager website.
Otherwise we have used the usual sources such as newspaper reports to fill in the gaps.
Primary researcher for this chapter is John McDonald.