Category Archives: Uncategorized

1903-04 a grand water carnival was held to raise funds for local charities. The clubs had decorated boat competition and thanks to the efforts of members and lady friends Ballarat City secured first prize in both the decorated four and decorated eight categories! The decorated boats were an important feature of the Ballarat Regatta inContinue reading “THE LADIES OF THE CLUB 1900-1930”

It took 100 years for women to finally take to the water in boats at the club, but they made a significant contribution to rowing in Ballarat from the very beginning in 1870. Their contribution is largely overlooked and forgotten. Much of the work done for the club by women has been unrecognized and unrecorded,Continue reading “THE LADIES OF THE BALLARAT CITY ROWING CLUB”

A couple of weeks ago I was very excited to meet with the great grand-daughter of Alfred McLaren. She had been researching family history and found a copy of my book “Boys From the Rush Beds-The History of Ballarat City Rowing Club 1870-2004” and discovered my research about her great grandfather and also her greatContinue reading “JWR PRINGLE and ALF McLAREN”

Peter Cram was a champion rower and champion club Captain. He was the first Captain of the club after World War 1. In writing about his time at the club, I pondered on what it takes to make a good captain of Ballarat City Rowing Club? First and foremost is loyalty to the club andContinue reading “CHAMPION CLUB CAPTAIN Peter Cram”

I have taken an extended break from posting after the epic feat of covering 150 years of club history in 150 days! I didn’t think when I started that it would be simultaneously very challenging and extremely rewarding. I promised myself that I would revisit some posts as some years there was so much extraContinue reading “Return to the blog!”

As it is still 2020, I am not going to cover the year’s activities and the impact of COVID19 until the year is over. Clear perspective is often not gained until well after the event. Instead I am going to look at how things have changed over the 50 years or so we have beenContinue reading “2020 The ultimate post”

I’m am making two posts today, as today marks a very special anniversary that I always like to remember, the death of Mr. James Pringle. He was one of the pioneers of rowing in Ballarat and his drowning at Burrumbeet while training, was one of the main factors in Robinson McLaren looking for a saferContinue reading “1862 In memory of Mr. James Pringle”

Today it is 150 years since the club began. I have achieved my personal goal and delivered 150 years in 150 days. I was slightly wrong in counting the days so there will be one more blog tomorrow for 2020 and then I’ll have a rest.😂 I will also look at some of the changesContinue reading “2019 Penultimate Post. Happy 150 years.”

At the Annual Meeting in October 2017 two events occurred that were both devastating to the people involved and marked a critical change in the administration of the club. It would have the greatest impact on the club during 2018.The first was that President Danny Elliott was not re-elected as President. After 17 years inContinue reading “2018 Year of change”

While this season was not as successful as last on the water the club never the less managed to record 19 wins for the year. After 17 years as treasurer Norm Young retired. He had been quiet achiever who managed to keep us afloat during the drought when we had no water and no membersContinue reading “2017”