THE BARWON BOY IN THE BOAT RACE
As you enter the Barwon Rowing Club, you ascend the
stairs between walls lined with old honor boards and photographs of past Barwon
River floods and the club's boat shed. But the eagle eyed amongst you may
wonder why there is also an aerial photograph of the finish of the 1930 Head of
River race. The answer lies with a member of the Geelong Grammar School crew.
Finish of the 1930 Head of River.
The sixty-third race was held on Saturday 10th
May at 3 p.m., in mild and pleasant weather and with a large crowd, estimated
as at least 40,000, lining the south bank and eagerly awaiting the final between
Melbourne Grammar, Wesley College and Geelong Grammar. Since the 1929 race the
rowing course had been straightened and cleared of weeds, making it the best
mile course in Victoria. Motorists were encouraged to park along the south bank, from the starting to finishing lines for a
fee of two shillings, with further parking areas on the south to the east of
the bridge, in front of the Belmont Common aerodrome, and on the northern bank
in the reserve at the foot of Yarra Street. Pedestrians were warned not to
linger on the Moorabool Street Bridge in an effort to watch the race for free.
For the price of one shilling, the purchase of the official programme gained
entry to the north bank, west of the bridge. The coaches of all competing
schools had lodged a protest with the Director of Civil Aviation against planes
being allowed to fly over the river during the race and the headmasters viewed
the prospect with alarm.
The race got off to a clean start and at the quarter
mile Melbourne Grammar appeared to be leading Wesley by a canvas, with Geelong
Grammar close up on them both. Then a shot from the umpire's launch stopped the
race. Unseen by the majority of spectators, Geelong Grammar on the north
station had clashed oars with Wesley in the centre lane. The race was stopped,
Geelong Grammar disqualified and Wesley and Melbourne Grammar instructed to row
back to the start. Old boys and supporters on the banks were puzzled to see
Geelong Grammar rowing alone down the length of the course, slowly through the
bridge and back to their boathouse. According to the umpire, Mr. T. Crosthwaite, "Geelong Grammar not only left its own
course but actually clashed with Wesley so seriously as to prevent both crews
from rowing. It would obviously have been unfair to Wesley to have allowed the
race to continue". In the rerun, Melbourne Grammar was victorious over
Wesley by ¾ length.
The incident cast a gloom over the victory
celebrations. The sympathies of the whole
crowd went out to the Geelong boys, whose months of hard work had gone for
nought. In trying to avoid the dead water on the north bank their cox had kept
too far out. But it wasn't the cox, D. L. Green: the fault lay with 7 seat,
one John G. Gorton. Years later Gorton
could still feel the pain he caused and experienced during the Head of River
race in 1930. Gorton's oar dislodged from its rowlock at the start of the
final; and, as the cox failed in his struggle to hold his line, the Geelong
Grammar School boat came in sharply, collided with Wesley, and was
disqualified. This is the same Sir John Grey Gorton, Prime Minister of
Australia from 1968 to 1971.
Geelong Grammar School crew. Head of
River. 1930.
And so we return to the stairs at Barwon Rowing Club
and the photograph that captures the final few metres of the race. The Barwon
connections are many: the coach of the winning crew, W. N. "Wally"
Ricketts, began his rowing career as a coxswain with the club in 1910; the
coach of the Geelong Grammar crew, William H. Pincott commenced his rowing
career in 1899 with Barwon and had been President, Secretary, Treasurer,
Captain and Coach of the club, and was a Vice-President until 1937; the coach
of the Geelong College crew, beaten in the heats by Melbourne Grammar, was
Barwon member and champion sculler, C. J. Collyer; the starter of the race was
Barwon member H. Speed; even the umpire T. Crosthwaite may have been related to
the Barwon member of 1888, B. Crosthwaite.
But why the photo on the wall? The race is notorious for the only disqualification,
the Barwon connections are many, but the answer lies in 2 seat of the Geelong Grammar
crew, Ronald Errol White. Although still a schoolboy, Roland had joined Barwon
to participate in the sport he loved, being unable to get a seat in the
school's crews. That is, until he rowed 4 seat in the club's winning Maiden
Eight at the Barwon Regatta in February and promptly found himself promoted to
the school's first eight. Ronald rowed for a number of years, later in the
winning crew of the H. F. Richardson Cup in 1932 and from 1933 in successful
Maiden Four crews. He was also a Barwon committee member from 1932 to 1934.
Four generations of the White family have been
valuable members of the Barwon Rowing Club: Ronald's father, Errol, though not
a rower, was a Vice-President from 1930 to 1940. Ronald's son, Peter, joined
the Club in 1963, rowed until the late 1970s, and is still a Barwon member,
Coach and Vice-President. His grandson, Andrew, has rowed for the last six
years with the Club.
SOURCES: Australian Rowing History website
http://www.rowinghistory-aus.info/school-rowing/vic/aps-head-of-river/1930.
The Geelong Advertiser, The Age, The Argus, The Weekly
Times. 1930.
Ian Hancock. John Gorton - He Did It His Way.
Peter White.
