Rowing Down the Years...

Evening Star, Issue 22145, 27 September 1935, Page 6

Rowing Down the Years...

Otago Club’s Establishment and Progress INITIATION OF SIXTY-THIRD SEASON (by Crahhe)

TO-MOREOW marks the opening of the sixty-third season of the Otago Rowing Club, and the usual arrangements have been made for the occasion. Should the weathei clerk be gracious enough to order fine weather, the officials intend- putting several crews out to contest the opening day races.' There will be the usual speech and formal opening by the president (Mr J. R. M’Grath), and it is expected that there will be one or two other short speeches by prominent members. The executive wishes to see as many supporters and friends as possible present.

Spacious dressing and shower rooms are situated in the upper story, and the addition of a very fine bathroom is probably the most outstanding difference from other clubhouses. A wellsheltered balcony for sun bathing has also been provided in the new building. CLUB’S SITES IN PAST Perhaps it would not be out of place, while referring to the club’s new boathouse, to glance back over the years at the various sites that have been occupied, and shown in the accompanying plan, and consider the anxious times that former officials must have had in being shifted from place to place as the Harbour Board gradually reclaimed the harbour. In 1874 the first boathouse was built near the Rattray street jetty, approximately where the Wharf Hotel now stands.. Due to the rapid extension of the harbour reclamation work, the boathouse was, in 1875, removed in sections and re-erected on the south side of the Jetty street wharf, near where His Majesty’s Theatre is built. Two years later further Harbour Board work necessitated another shift, and the club, having been in three locations in three years, despaired of a permanent site and purchased the dredge New Era, on the Hull of which the boathouse was built. This floating boathouse was moored between the old and new jetties near Crawford and. Jetty streets, and later moved further out to the Cumberland street crossing of Jetty street.

HOW CLUB ORIGINATED We of the younger generations might well wonder what form the official opening of the club took in the early days. The present-day plant and boathouse, probably the. most up-to-date in the South Island, must contrast .greatly with, say, the original opening in 1873. It,was in this year that, after several unsuccessful attempts to form a rowing club,- Mr S. N. Muir convened a meeting in the Athemeum, when "it was resolved to form such a club. Those present were Messrs J. C. Boddington. JV A. Cook, F. Muir, G. A. Fenwick, A. Grant, J. F. Franckeiss, E. Prosser, MacDonald, and Hart. At-a later meeting i,t was decided to call the newly-formed club the - Otago Rowing Club, and the officers elected were:—JV C. Boddington, captain; S. N. Muir, secretary and treasurer; and a ' general committee consisting of Messrs MacDonald, Cook, Franckeiss, Fenwick, and F. Muir. Subsequently the Hon. W. J. M. Larnach and the Rev. R. L. Stanford were appointed president and vice-president respectively. It was at first a rule that membership be limited to 30 members, but this restriction was soon abolished. And so 62 years ago there was formed what was destined to become a very important unit in the work of rowing. EARLY ACTIVITIES It is interesting to note some of the early activities of the . Otago Rowing Cln’o. One of the earliest was the organising in 1879 of a Henley regatta on the Taieri River. This event was featured so ' well beforehand that a ■general holiday was proclaimed in the city, and some 4,000 people journeyed to Henley. The principal event at this regatta was won by the club, the crew being A. Grant, J. Allen (now Sir James Allen), W. G. Aspinall, and G. A. Fenwick. It was for this event that the valuable Henley Cup was offered, r a trophy still held by the club and offered annually for competition in the Senior Fours event at the Otago Rowing Association Regatta, and latterly at the Dunedin Regatta Club’s Regatta, which last year took over the responsibility of conducting the association’s fixture; INTERPROVINCIAL COMPETITION At about this time the club also made an attempt to foster interprovinpiaT competition, and races were arranged between the club and the Canterbury Rowing Club, of Christchurch, and the Invercargill Rowing Club. The first race against the Canterbury Club was rowed in 1879, and against Southland in 1880, and so annual competition was established. NOTABLE OARSMEN PRODUCED Outstanding among the club’s early representatives were Mr J. F. M'Grath (now president of the club) and the late Mr M. H. Priest. To the former belongs the honour of being the first member of the club to gain the coveted “ Red Coat,” the highest honour to be gained in amateur rowing in New Zealand, for in ,1893 and again in 1901, T 902, and 1904 he carried off the single sculling championship of New Zealand. In partnership with M. H. Priest he also succeeded in gaining the championship title:in the. double sculling events in the years 1901, 1902, 1903, and 1904. The 'record of this crew—four wins in succession—has not since been equalled. At the outbreak of war in 1914 all available members enlisted for active

service, and of the 86 who volunteered 16 did not return. A FAMOUS GREW After the war the affairs of the club were taken up with renewed vigour, and in 1924 a crew was formed which was eventually to have an outstanding place in the rowing history of New Zealand. This crew consisted of F. Brough, J. Werges, C. J. M‘Ara, and P. S. Anderson.

After numerous successes at local regattas this crew won the championship of New Zealand in 1926 and 1927. In 1927, at the invitation of the Victorian Rowing Association, the crew journeyed to Melbourne, :where, at the Henley-on-Yarra regatta, it won the principal four-oared event, and brought back with it the Stewards’ Challenge

Cup. The crew also competed in five other races, and returned with the enviable record of having won six races in as many starts in the company of the best Australian oarsmen. With the success of this crew a new era dawned for the club, and the membership grew to such an extent that new plant had to be purchased to meet the demand of the increased membership. PRESENT HANDSOME BOATHOUSE In 1933 the executive had the new and modern boathouse built, partly because of the state of disrepair into which the old shed was falling, and partly also to meet the requirements of the ever-increasing membership. The pavilion forms, a new departure for this type of building in Otago or Southland! Previously all clubhouses had served the purpose of housing the boats and providing dressing accommodation only The new boathouse has ample room for additional plant, as may be gauged from the fact that when the interprovincial eights were recently held in Dunedin the visitors’ boats seven eights, each 62ft in length—-were housed without removing the club’s own boats.

The following year, 1879, saw a move to the temporary position at the foot of Stuart street, on the site now_ occupied by the railway station. In view of its exposed position and the expense of constantly replacing mooring chains and anchors, the club vacated this site and took up a' position at the foot of Hanover street. Here disaster overtook the dub, for the hull became badly strained and leaky, with the result that the structure settled on the nid. At high water the floor was well awash, and members wishing to row at high tide were forced to wade into the shed to get at the boats. This state of affairs could not continue, and the club moved to the north-east corner of Pelichet Bay, inside the existing breakwater, somewhat near the site occupied by tlic Miihurn Cement Company. Having had seven shifts in as many years the club members must Have expected some relief from this nomadic existence, but their respite was short, for in 1884 the boathouse was removed to the present Birch street wharf. This site was occupied for four years, when in 1888 a new boathouse was built at the end of the same wharf. Here tlie club remained for 13 years, until in 1901 the boathouse was moved forward and enlarged. Even then the club was

unsettled, for in 1904 the boathouse was once more removed, this time to a position on piles off the corner of Kitchener and_ French streets, where it remained until 1934, when it was pulled down on tlie completion of the new premises which the club now occupies.

LEARN TO ROW When one considers what an invigorating sport, rowing is it is little wonder that the sport is growing in public popularity. Conducted as it is in the open air, there is probably no more healthy sport for a young man to take up. Unfortunately most youths and young men are a trifle diffident about joining up with a rowing club without having had some little experience beforehand. Realising this, the Otago Rowing Club has arranged to place its entire plant and facilities at the disposal of any young man desirous of tearing to row. For a period from Monday next arrangements have been made to coach beginners and enthusiasts in the art of rowing, and to have available, in addition to the necessary equipment, the services of several members —some of

whom have attained the highest honours in rowing in New Zealand ' and abroad—who will personally take in hand the tuition of anyone wh6 cares to try himself out. Those taking advantage of this offer will not be placed under any obligation to join the club, but if they find the sport to their lik-

ing they will be welcomed as members. Those interested in learning to row in racing skiffs are advised to get: in touch with the club captain or any member of the committee at the boathouse any evening or Saturday afternoon during the coming fortnight.

LAUGHINGS AT OTHER CLUBS

WEEKLY SEEKING CEREMONIES Boat launchings at ' the commencement of a new season are ceremoniously conducted by the respective clubs, and this being tlie season for summer sport openings, these events will be celebrated weekly around the harbour during ttye next month. Oarsmen, officials, and their friends will visit in turn the four main local clubs, which seek such a “ boost ” at the outset of another strenuous period, and it is customary to observe the presence of many stalwarts, whose interest and stock of rowing anecdotes never fait. They will discuss the-relative ages of the clubs, and tell that tho Port Chalmers Rowing Club has also attained its sixty-third year; attained it, in fadt, three months before the Otago Club. ' And they will refer to the Queen’s Drive Boating Club as the claimant to tho third oldest record, dating back beyond 1892, when, after some years as tlie professional Union Rowing Club, it assumed amateur status with the establishment of the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Asociation. In the same year the North End Boating Club, which last month altered its name to the North End Rowing Club, came into existence, while only during the 1928-29 season the Nortli-east Harbour Rowing Club made its appearance. Tho following season it was renamed tbe Macandrew Bay Rowing Club, and after a long and gallant struggle for an adequate membership, it went “ up on the. skids ” last year. The harbour’s rowing “ youth ” is the University Rowing Club, formed in 1929 principally to contest annually the Hebberly Shield for the eights at the Easter interuniversity tournaments. Each year witnesses this club’s increasing prominence in the sport. Following the opening of the Otago Club to-morrow, other clubs’ ceremonies will be held on the following dates:— October s.—Queen’s Drive Boating Club. October 12 (tentative). —Port Chalmers Rowing Club. October 19.—North End and University Rowing Clubs.