AUSTRALIAN ROWING.
_By E. G. Blackmore._
A country which has produced such scullers as Beach and Searle, not to
mention Trickett, Laycock, Kemp, Nielson, Stanbury, and many others of
less calibre, may well claim a place in a work treating of the science
and art of rowing. In the limits of a chapter it is scarcely possible to
give an exhaustive account of Australian oarsmen and oarsmanship, and as
the performances of the leading Colonial scullers are sufficiently well
known, from their having competed on English waters, this record will be
almost entirely confined to amateur rowing, as practised in Australia.
That large continent, with the island of Tasmania, consists of six
colonies, in all of which the art is cultivated, with more or less
enthusiasm.
The first record we can find of anything like boat-racing occurs in
1818, when ships' gig races were rowed in the Sydney Harbour, while the
first regatta was held in the same place in 1827. In 1832 an
Australian-born crew, in a locally built whale-boat, beat several crews
of whaling ships. Passing over a series of years, in which nothing of
more than local and momentary interest occurred, we find that in 1858,
in the first race rowed on the present Champion course, the Parramatta
River, Green beat an English sculler, Candlish, in a match for [L]400. I
am inclined to regard this as the real foundation of New South Wales
professional sculling, which afterwards culminated in the performances
of Beach and Searle. The mother colony is the only one of the group
which has produced a professional sculler of any class. Amongst amateurs
none has yet appeared who could be placed in the first rank.
In all the Colonies there are rowing associations which regulate and
control amateur rowing. Of these, New South Wales alone has attempted to
maintain the amateur status on English lines. The other associations
recognize men who would not pass muster at any regatta in the United
Kingdom where the regulation definition obtains. To the New South Wales
Association about ten clubs are affiliated. Under its auspices regattas
are held in the harbour of Sydney, and one on the Parramatta River. The
former water is utterly unfit for first-class racing, as it is
exceedingly rough, exposed to sudden winds, and hampered with steam
traffic of all sorts. In September--regarded as the commencement of the
rowing season--there is an eight-oar race, the winners of which rank as
champions for the ensuing year, and fly the "Premiership Pennant." On
January 26 is held the Anniversary Regatta, which, founded in 1834, has
been an annual event since 1837.
The Parramatta River course, on which champion events are decided, and
which Hanlan, Beach, and Searle have made classic ground, is 3 miles 330
yards. It is practically straight, with a strong tide, the set of which
is very difficult to learn. At times it is so affected by wind, as to
render rowing impossible. The most perfect water is that of the Nepean
River. Here a straight 3-1/4 miles course can be found, perfectly calm,
and with no current. It was on this river that Beach beat Hanlan in
1887.
The Victorian Rowing Association holds three Championship events in the
year--sculls, fours, and eights rowed in best boats on the Lower Yarra,
and an annual regatta on the Albert Park Lake, though in former years it
has taken place on the Upper and the Lower river. Important meetings are
also held at Ballarat, Geelong, Warrnambool, Bairnsdale, Colac,
Nagambie, and Lake Moodemere. The length for Intercolonial and
Championship races is 3 miles 110 yards, with the tide, which may be set
at three miles an hour.
The South Australian Association holds an annual regatta on the river
Torrens, and has champion races for eights, fours, and sculls, on the
Port River. The city course is one mile, that for the champion races,
three miles. The Torrens is at the best an inferior river for rowing,
while the Port Water is a broad tidal stream, exposed to south-west
winds, and at times exceedingly rough.
Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia, like their sister Colonies,
have associations, and hold regattas.
The great event of the year is the Intercolonial eight-oar race, rowed
alternately in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Western Australia is
now (1897) entering the field, but her crew is composed almost entirely
of former Victorian oarsmen. In the past the rowing of Victorian crews
has been generally far superior to that of the other Colonies, and in
1894 the Victorian combination was the nearest approach to English form
that has yet been attained. South Australia has not so far been
represented. Speaking generally, none of the picked eights of the
Colonies have ever shown form or pace within measurable distance of the
best college crews at Oxford and Cambridge, or the eights which may be
seen at Henley. There is no approach to that systematic rudimentary
teaching, coaching, and training, which proves so successful on English
waters, and without which no crew can ever become that perfect human
machine which a finished eight should be.
_Public School Rowing._
_Sydney._
The principal rowing schools in New South Wales are the Church of
England Grammar School, North Shore, the Sydney Grammar School, and St.
Ignatius College. Under the "Athletic Association of the Great Public
Schools" an annual regatta is held on the Parramatta River in May. The
events are--"Schools Championship," Maiden Fours, Junior Eights, and a
June Handicap Sculling Race. The association has fixed the distance at
1-1/4 miles. The races are rowed in string test gigs; and 8 mins. 15
secs. is considered good time for school crews, whose age, it must be
remembered, does not equal that of English schoolboys. The boathouses of
the two grammar schools are at Berry's and Woolloomooloo Bays, in the
harbour; and they are at a disadvantage compared with St. Ignatius
College, which, at Lane Cove River, has a splendid course and smooth
water. The ten days of the Easter vacation are spent by the two former
schools in "Rowing Camp," _i.e._ they migrate to the Parramatta River,
where there are better opportunities of systematic work and coaching.
Each club, notably St. Ignatius, has a good set of boats, those of the
North Shore School being fitted with convertible fixed or sliding seats,
carried on frames. The form of the two grammar schools is decidedly
good, and conforms to the English standard much more nearly than that of
most of the clubs.
_Victoria._
There are five schools approaching, as nearly as circumstances allow,
the great public schools of England, viz. in the capital, the Church of
England Grammar School, the Scotch College, Wesley College, St Patrick's
College, and the Church of England Grammar School at Geelong.
Two races are rowed annually, for first and second crews, each school in
turn having the choice of course, which is either on the Upper or Lower
Yarra, the Albert Park Lagoon, or the Barwon at Geelong. For first crews
the distance is 1-1/4 miles, for second a mile, the boats being string
test gigs, fixed seats. Of all the schools none has a record equal to
that of Geelong, where rowing, in comparison with other sports, occupies
the same position as at Eton. To the Cambridge Eight it has contributed
four oars, including the well-known heavyweight S. Fairbairn; while in
the memorable race of '86, when Pitman made his victorious rush on the
post, the school had an "old boy" in each boat--Fairbairn rowing for the
Light Blues, and Robertson, whose father had been in Hoare's famous '61
crew, for Oxford. In the Cambridge Trial Eights seven "old Geelongs"
have rowed; in the Oxford Trials only one; while the school has also
been represented in the Grand Challenge and other races at Henley.
The Public Schools' Race for first crews was established in 1868, and
for second in 1878. Geelong first rowed for the former in 1875, since
when it has twelve wins to its credit, and the same number in the minor
event.
The Boat Club was established in 1874, and at the present date has a
roll of fifty-six members, an excellent boathouse, and nineteen boats.
It holds an annual school regatta in June.
Rowing at the other schools is very spasmodic, mostly confined to a few
weeks' training for the above races.
_South Australia._
There are only two schools in South Australia which merit the
designation of public schools in the English sense, viz. St. Peter's
Collegiate School and Prince Alfred College, both in the immediate
neighbourhood of the city.
Adelaide is bisected by the river Torrens, where, by reason of a dam, a
mile and a half of water is available for rowing. But the course is so
tortuous that racing is limited to a mile. The accumulation of silt is
so great, and the growth of weeds and rushes so rapid, that for some
five months in the year the river is kept empty for necessary
operations; and at the best of times the water is slow and sluggish. At
the annual regatta, under the Rowing Association, the rivals have often
competed in a special race; but they ran the chance of being drawn to
row private schools. In order to make rowing as important a part of
school athletics as cricket and football, the present writer, who was
then chairman of the Rowing Association, instituted in 1893 an annual
race between these schools for a challenge shield, to be rowed on the
tidal river at the Port, over a straight mile course. The boats used are
half-outrigged, clinker, keelless fours, fixed seats, with a
twenty-six-inch beam. The crews practise on the home water, and finish
their preparation on the scene of the contest. So far, St. Peter's
College has won each event in the easiest style. A race has also been
established with the Geelong school. Of three, each of which has been of
the closest, Geelong has won once, St. Peter's twice. The boats used are
full outrigged clinkers, with sliding seats.
In spite of the inferior water, rowing at St. Peter's is becoming almost
as popular with the boys as cricket and football. To this state of
things their success against Prince Alfred and Geelong crews has
materially contributed, as well as the institution of school regattas.
The club has a good boathouse, with the right class of boats for
teaching and coaching, viz. steady, roomy, half-outrigged, clinker
fours, with keels, convertible as fixed or sliders.
_University Rowing._
There are three Universities of Australia--those of Sydney, Melbourne,
and Adelaide. Racing was first instituted when Sydney and Melbourne met
on the water of the latter in string test gig fours over a three and a
half miles course. In the following year they met on the Parramatta.
Melbourne won on both occasions. The race was then discontinued, but in
1885 the Sydney University Boat Club was founded, and in 1888 the three
Universities mutually agreed to establish the race as an annual event in
eights, to be rowed in turn on the Parramatta, the Yarra, and the Port
Adelaide rivers, over a three mile course. Of nine races rowed--in two
of which Adelaide, and in one of which Sydney, did not compete--Sydney
has won four times, Melbourne thrice, and Adelaide on two occasions. The
presentation by Old Blues of Oxford and Cambridge of a magnificent cup,
to be held by the winners, has given a great stimulus to the race, and
invested it with an importance which otherwise would not have attached
to it. It has served to establish the continuity of the contest, and to
connect the local Universities with their more famous elder sisters of
England.
The Sydney U.B.C. undoubtedly takes the lead in prosecuting rowing. It
promotes annual races for Freshmen, and intercollegiate fours between
the three colleges of St. John's, St. Andrew's, and St. Paul's. Since
their inauguration, in 1892, St. Paul's has won on every occasion except
in 1894. In 1895 and 1896 the U.B.C. won the Rowing Association
Eight-oar Championship.
There is an annual race in eights between Ormond and Trinity Colleges of
the Melbourne University, besides a few other less important events, but
the rowing spirit is not in such evidence as in Sydney and Adelaide. The
latter is simply a teaching and examining University, with members so
few that it is rather a matter of finding eight men to put in a boat
than of picking or selecting a crew from a number of aspirants. Its
success and enterprise are the more remarkable.
Speaking generally of University form in Australia, it is far inferior
to that of a good college eight. Nor is the reason far to seek. There is
no such recruiting ground as, for instance, Eton or Radley, not to
mention other rowing schools, nor are there the opportunities for making
oars such as the college clubs at the two great Universities present,
with the successive stages of the Torpids and Lent races, the May and
Summer Eights, Henley, and the Trial Eights. Coaching, as in England,
from the tow path or a fast steam-launch, is practically impossible, and
the number of those who have a scientific knowledge of oarsmanship, and,
what is rarer still, the gift of imparting it to a crew, individually
and collectively, is small indeed. Coaching in Australia is done from
the stern, or from another boat, or by an occasional view from the bank,
sometimes from a launch seldom fast enough to keep up, or range abeam.
Pair-oar tubbing is of course utilized. Sydney University rowing is,
however, far superior to non-University oarsmanship. The men sit up, use
their backs and legs well, understand the knee work at the end of the
slide, and do not rush their recovery. They are somewhat deficient in
fore and aft swing, have a tendency to sky the feather, and rarely
catch their water at the first. Melbourne rowing is wanting in body
work, and conspicuous for absence of length. The men apparently are
taught to discard on slides every approach to fixed-seat form, instead
of to retain as much as possible. Thanks to a strong Oxford inspiration
in Adelaide, and a belief in fixed-seat form as the foundation of good
rowing on slides, an Adelaide school or University crew is conspicuous
for length, reach, and swing. The pace of the eights is far behind
English standard.
_Boatbuilding in Australia._
It was the opinion of Hanlan that in the matter of boats and sculls he
had never been so well served as by Donnelly and Sullivan of Sydney, a
judgment as regards sculls endorsed by Beach and Searle. Chris. Nielsen,
the sculler, has brought out a boat which he claims to be faster than
the ordinary wager boat, with, against, or without tide, in rough water
or smooth. The dimensions for an 11-1/2 stone man are--length, 23 ft.;
beam, 16 ins.; depth, 7 ins.; for'ard, 6 ins.; aft, 5-1/2 ins.; full
lines throughout; height of seat from heel plates, 7 ins.; height of
work from seat, 5-3/4 ins.; needs no fin, steers well, very light off
hand; weight without fittings, 14 lbs. Riggers are bicycle tubing
fittings, ordinary Davis gate; Colonial cedar, pine, and hickory
timbers. The Australian-built boats are probably, so far as lines,
general design, and workmanship, quite equal to the best English craft.
For pairs, fours, and eights the Melbourne builders, Fuller, Edwards,
and Greenland, are of the first class. They use a skeleton frame for the
slides, built with angle pieces. This has all the rigidity of Clasper's
more solid style, is lighter and stronger, and when the boat is being
emptied allows the free escape of water. A Colonial eight is certainly
lighter than those sent to Australia by Clasper or Rough. Probably the
English builders have overestimated the weight of Australian eight-oar
crews, which do not scale anything approaching a 'Varsity eight. Seating
down the middle is generally preferred, which the present writer thinks
has everything in its favour. The great drawback from which local
builders suffer is the want of seasoned cedar. From this cause their
boats do not last as long as English ones.
_Times._
I am not disposed to place much reliance on time as a test of a crew or
a sculler, as conditions can never be so identical as to make comparison
a safe guide. Still a certain interest attaches to records. It is
contended that the Parramatta is a fifth slower than the Thames. The
best trial with the tide that I know of is for a mile, 5 mins. 20 secs.
with a four; 4 mins. 47 secs. with an eight. Over the whole course, 3
miles 330 yards, an eight has put up 17 mins. 12 secs., one mile of
which was compassed in 4 mins. 52 secs. On the Yarra the Victorian Eight
of 1889 is said to have rowed two measured miles in 10 mins. 2 secs. At
Brisbane, in 1895, the Sydney International Eight, with a strong stream,
compassed three miles in 15 mins., but the distance is doubted. On the
Nepean course, 3 miles 440 yards, Sullivan beat Bubear in 19 mins. 15
secs., no current.