Our History
“A meeting of Gentlemen desirous of forming a rowing club on the Barwon River will be held at Mack's Hotel on Wednesday the 22nd inst., at half-past four o'clock when all interested are requested to attend. Edward H. Lascelles.”
— Geelong Advertiser, 22 June 1870
Key Periods
1870-1919
Our first “double” - Winners Senior Eight at Ballarat and Barwon Regattas 1883
Back Row L to R - Thomas Chaster?, Frederick Douglass, Francis Creasy?, Henry Douglass, Joe Brush. (Creasy replaced Brush at Barwon.)
Front Row L to R - Frederick De Little, Arthur Christey, Charles Garrard, Frederick Thomson. Cox unknown.
The six identified members were Geelong Football Club Premiership players.
1920-1969
We make Victorian rowing history in 1922 - and it has never since been repeated.
In that year the club achieved two major triumphs - it was the first non-metropolitan club to win the Victorian Rowing Association Junior Premiership and it achieved a “double double” - winning the Senior and Junior Eights at the Ballarat and Barwon regattas.
The last race of the four, the Senior Eights at Barwon, was won by a canvas. These four wins by the same crew were at the time without parallel in the history of Victorian rowing, and their record still stands today.
W. Wheatland (bow), B. Jones, J. Moorhead, T. Coleman, F. Collyer, J. McLure, R. Degenhardt, C. Collyer (stroke). Cox T. McIntosh. Coach W.H Pincott.
Our first Victorian Championship win - Lightweight Eight 1953.
The crew of R. Brown (bow), P. Jukes, J. Wilks, A. Moody, J Dowsett, N. Monkivitch, M Davis, K. Palmer (stroke) with D. Stacey cox and coaches W.R.B. Grose and Lex Quinn won on the Yarra River by one length in 7mins. 39secs. from Ballarat and Banks.
Ballarat were the hot favourites having won the event for the three previous seasons.
1970-2020
Our first Australian Championship win - Men’s Coxed Pair 1972
The crew of R. Garrard (bow) and R. Fitch (stroke) with cox B. Digby, coached by L. Gladman, won in 7mins. 32secs. over Torrens, South Australia. They also competed in the Men’s Coxless Pair but withdrew after 300 metres. A Barwon crew was placed third in the Men’s Lightweight Four.
Held in Queensland, the regatta was run with an approaching cyclone and strong cross breeze.