1934 Coat of Arms

The regattas attended this season were Henley, Ballarat Novice Regatta, Colac, Upper Yarra, Footscray, Barwon and Ballarat. The club’s successes came at Barwon and Ballarat where the lightweight four of Gordon Whitworth, S. Hillman, J. Allen, B. Franks and J. Hopwood cox took out the coveted double. Mr.T.J. Stevens coached the crew. At Ballarat Regatta the club also scored wins in Maiden eights and Maiden pairs. The Maiden pair was F. Moon, Charlie Pennant and Warwick Ehms cox and Otto Hauser the coach. At Ballarat Novice Regatta the club was successful in Maiden eights. The Maiden eight comprised K. Keith, S. Tait, P. Moon, A. Hayes, K. Lythe, G. Henderson, Maurice O’Leary, and Matt O’Leary with Teddy Jones cox.

Mr. Dick Mitchell endeared himself to the club and to rowing in Ballarat in general when he donated to each of the three clubs a set of eight racing oars and nine rowing singlets. Some money also went to the Ballarat Rowing Association and was attached to a race at the Ballarat Regatta which became the ‘Dick” Mitchell’ Maiden eights.

The Social Committee under the leadership of the genial Mr.Bickart continued their efforts on behalf of the club. He again tendered a dinner for the successful crews at the 1934 Ballarat Regatta. The dinner was held at the Wattle Tearooms and we have the menu and program that belonged to Otto Hauser. On the back of the program are signatures of many of the successful oarsmen of that era. The Ladies Committee was formed this year and was presided over by Mrs. Norman Wood. They raised over 70 pounds for the club.

Otto Hauser and T. C. Edwards continued to work hard maintaining and improving the shed. They lined the Committee room and completed arrangements for lining the Ladies’ powder room and the kitchen. Downstairs a new oar rack was erected and the shower room improved. Twenty new oars were purchased and a new racing four was ordered for delivery early in the next season. Mr. Cotter James was the secretary this season. He had commenced his career at City as a cox and had steered many crews to victory. He became in these years one of our most valuable officers along with Mr. Bunce and Jack Lawrie.

The signatures on the left hand side of the program include: R.Aley, C.H.Bunce, J.Bickart, T.C.Edwards, T.J.Stevens, MauriceO’Leary, Gordon Henderson,Ken Lythe, A.J.Hayes, P.E.Moon, K.Keith, G.O.Beckwith, G.Whitworth and W.C,Ehms. The program belonged to Otto Hauser and was returned to the club by his family. Joe Bickart’s unique brand of humour is again evident in the menu items!

During this season the committee called for designs for a club badge to be used on the club’s blazer pockets. The design submitted by Mr.Gordon Whitworth was selected and the Ballarat City coat of arms and motto ‘Primum Semper’ (Always to the fore.) were adopted unanimously. It has been the badge of the club since with the crest appearing on stationery, clothing and badges. Our racing emblem continued to be the star. Apart from the adoption of the new crest,the season was fairly unspectacular. The club made steady progress in all areas of operation except finances. There, we made astounding progress! Remembering that the whole community was still in the grip of the Depression,it was amazing that through the untiring efforts of the Social committee and the Ladies’ Committee the club not only paid off all its debts but also finished the year with a credit balance of 102 pounds. This was significantly more that any other season and was again a tribute to the hardworking Social committee and the astuteness of the treasurer,Ted Edwards.