A wooden pair has been hanging in the Barwon Rowing Club's
shed for as long as our oldest members can remember. Always known as "Fairbairn's boat", it has survived onslaughts of paper planes from young
coxswains and barrages of bread rolls from more rowdy rowers, the demolition of
the old shed, its refurbishment and transfer to pride of place in our new
club rooms.
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| Picture source: Barwon Rowing Club |
It once belonged to one of the earliest members of the club. Stephen (Steve) Fairbairn was born in Melbourne, Victoria in
1862 and educated at Geelong Grammar School between 1874 and 1880. Whilst at
school he was taught to row by J.L. Cuthbertson, a teacher at the school and by
the Captain of Barwon, Edward Nicholls. The boys were offered free membership by Barwon from 1871 until 1874 when the school formed its own boat club. The school did not have a boathouse on the river until 1877 and so used Barwon Rowing Club's shed and fleet. In 1879 Steve joined Barwon and rowed stroke in the Barwon
Rowing Club Senior Eight at the Colac Regatta.
In 1881-84 he read law at Jesus College, Cambridge. He rowed in the
Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race in the Cambridge crews of 1882, 1883 (both defeated
by Oxford), 1886 and 1887 (both victorious), in college crews at the Head of
the Cam four times, and in crews which won the Grand Challenge Cup (the blue
ribbon of amateur rowing in England), the Stewards', and the Whyfold at
Henley Regatta..
Fairbairn returned to Australia between 1884-85 and was then
to and fro from England to Australia during 1887-1904, pursuing his family's
pastoral interests in Victoria and in Western Queensland at Beaconsfield,
originally one the largest sheep stations in Australia.
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| Picture source: Peter Mallory. The Sport of Rowing - A Comprehensive History. Volume 1. 2011 |
On a trip to England beginning in 1897 he competed at
Henley-on-Thames Regatta and was captain of Thames Rowing Club. In 1898 he was
runner up in the Silver Goblets (coxless pairs) at Henley Regatta in a boat
built by boat builders, Brewer Swaddle and Co. of Putney, England. This
boat was adapted as either a coxless pair or a double sculling boat, being
fitted so that that either bow or stern could steer.
In 1899 Steve returned to Australia, arriving in Brisbane by steamship with his wife, two young sons, two maids and the boat. In October he travelled to
Melbourne, taking the boat with him, where he took extensive exercise on the Yarra River in his highly finished craft. In
November Steve was appointed coach of the Queensland crew for the Intercolonial
Eights Championship in Melbourne and had a fortnight's supervision of the crew before the
race where Queensland finished last. Before his return to Beaconsfield in
the middle of 1900 by rail, he donated the boat to his old club, Barwon. The club President, in acknowledging the gift, spoke of the great interest that Steve had always maintained in the club, and appointed him as the club's first Honorary Life Member.
In 1904 Steve returned to Cambridge where he made his name
as one of the most influential of rowing coaches and introduced a new style of
rowing, known as Fairbairnism, placing an emphasis on movement - "a perfect
loose and easy elastic action" - above strict restrictive conventions on
body placement. He died in Cambridge in 1938.
A few months ago, three intrepid gentlemen, John Guiney of Belgrove Hire and Barwon members Gary Giles and
Chic Chandley, braved the heights to photograph inside the boat, providing the
vital clue to proving its provenance.
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| Picture Source: Barwon Rowing Club. |
The club's thanks go to:
Hear the Boat Sing historians Tim Koch, Peter Mallory, Tom
Weil, William "Bill" O'Chee, Goran Buckhorn and Bill Miller.
Michael Kemp. Vintage Wooden Rowing Shells Australia."One of the oldest and most important shells remaining in Australia".
Rob Gardner, Sean Drew, Sam Elliott and Alan Chalmers for
stripping back the old varnish.
Tom Prime for restoration of the boat and storage until the
new shed was built.
Rob Gardner, Sean Drew, Alan Chalmers and Peter White for
hanging the boat in the new shed.
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| Picture source: Barwon Rowing Club |
