School Rowing in Victoria

Victorian schools have always taken a keen interest in boating. The APS Head of the River has its origins in a race between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School in 1868 and has been conducted every year since.

The first intercolonial schools race appears to have been between Geelong Grammar School, St Peters College, Adelaide and St Ignatius' College, Sydney. The first was a race on the Barwon River in 1888 between Geelong Grammar School and St Ignatius' College. A return match the following year was conducted on the Lane Cove in Sydney. The crews used string-test gigs with sliding seats.

There appears to have been regular annual races between Geelong Grammar School and St Peters College, Adelaide from 1895 onwards alternating between the Barwon River in Geelong and the Port River in Adelaide.

The first eight oared race for schoolboys in Australia was conducted between Melbourne Grammar and Geelong Grammar on Albert Park Lake on 14th October 1899. Melbourne Grammar won by a third of a length in a race where the lead changed between the crews on several occasions.

Schoolgirl rowing took a lot longer to become established and is now equally popular with girls as with boys. The Head of the Schoolgirls regatta on the Barwon is reputed to be the largest regatta on the calander.

School Regattas

APS Head of the River
Ballarat Head of the Lake
Head of the Schoolgirls
Victorian School Championships (part of Victorian State Championships)
National School Championships (part of Australian National Championships)

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.