The O'Connor Cup

The O'Connor Cup for the 1st VIII was first presented in 1922, but has been backdated to 1918 in all official reports. 

The race was conducted in coxed fours from 1918 to 1954, and then in eights.

Denis O’Connor joined the Commercial Rowing Club in 1879 as an active oarsman. He was a member of the Queensland Champion Four on seven occasions between 1881 and 1888. In the late 1880s Denis O’Connor purchased one acre of land from James Stone on the corner of Logan and Old Cleveland Roads for £2700. James Stone had purchased the land in 1875 for £100 and had built a thirteen roomed house which he hoped to open as a hotel. However he was unable to obtain a liquor license and sold the land to O’Connor. O’ Connor obtained the license and started the Junction Hotel (now the Stone’s Corner Hotel).

In 1905 Denis O’Connor was President of the Commercial Rowing Club when the new boathouse was erected on North Quay. He guaranteed the Club’s overdraft at the bank and in recognition of this and many other services the building was named the O’Connor Boathouse. It remained a landmark of Brisbane sporting (the start point for the Head of the River from 1921 to 1929) and social life for 60 years until the 1968 fire. 

In 1920, Denis O’Connor was elected President of the Queensland Rowing Association (which position he held until his death in 1937) and in 1922 provided a perpetual trophy for the All Schools’ Championship. When Southport won the all Schools race in 1921 becoming the eternal owners of the Lawless Cup having won it three times 1918, 1919 &1921), it was at this stage that O’Connor wisely saw the need for a perpetual trophy and thus CEGS was the first winner of the O’Connor Cup when it won the Head of the River in 1922. This explains the single metal shield now affixed to the O’Connor Cup headed ‘Lawless Cup’ and carrying the winning crews of 1918-1921. 

The Cup has remained the trophy for the ‘first’ crew race (in IVs until 1954 and in VIIIs since then) in the GPS Championships, with several tiers being added to the base to accommodate the names of the winning crew.