Glebe Rowing Club is the third-oldest rowing club in continuous operation on

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...

and was established in July 1879 in

Blackwattle Bay Blackwattle Bay is a bay located to the southeast of Glebe Island and east of Rozelle Bay on Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia. The bay was named in 1788 after the black wattle tree found at the bay, which was used for housing const ...

Sydney, Australia. It has occupied its current location at the foot of Ferry St,

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

since the club's inception. GRC is a community based club with a focus on novice, women's and social rowing and with a learn-to-row program.

History

The Glebe Club was founded with an open attitude in welcoming labourers as members unlike the other Sydney rowing clubs formed at that time – the

Sydney Rowing Club Sydney Rowing Club is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, Australia formed in 1870. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's Parramatta River at Abbotsford, New South Wales, Abbotsford Point since 1874. The club has a focus on it ...

and

Mercantile Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cred ...

. Glebe's first president was Sir

George Wigram Allen Sir George Wigram Allen (16 May 1824 – 23 July 1885) was an Australian politician and philanthropist. He was Speaker (politics), Speaker in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1875–1883. Allen was held in high esteem. As speaker he sho ...

, Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Glebe's first Mayor. Its first captain was Robert Clark, brother of Jim Clark, the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

's captain at that time. During the first ten years of the club's history it was the third most successful in Sydney winning 24 of the 260 races rowed between 1880 and 1890. In 1897 the shed at

and all the club's boats were destroyed by fire. A£570 insurance claim was made, a new shed opened only months later and a new fleet ordered. The club finished the last decade of the 19th century with 92 members and 11 boats. At the end of the 1901/02 season, the club had 77 members and a fleet of 16 boats and had enjoyed some competitive success under club captain John McGregor. However, the club's decision to pay part of the capitation fees for its members of the New South Wales 1902 interstate crew caused considerable internal dissension, with a special meeting censuring the committee and several committee members then resigning. Glebe competed against the

Iron Cove Iron Cove is a bay on the Parramatta River, in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately due west of Sydney's central business district. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Birchgrove, Balmain ...

clubs for the Leichhardt Challenge Shield during the 1910s, claiming victory from the

Leichhardt Rowing Club Leichhardt Rowing Club formed in 1886 is one of the oldest rowing clubs in Sydney, Australia. The clubhouse has occupied sites on Port Jackson's, Iron Cove at Leichhardt, New South Wales, Leichhardt since 1886. Leichhardt is an all-level competit ...

in 1918. That decade also saw the commencement of combined rowing and social outings. Glebe and the

Mosman Rowing Club Mosman Rowing Club is an all-level competitive and recreational Rowing (sport), rowing club on the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore of Sydney. Since 2007 the club's facilities have been wholly located at The Spit, New South Wales, The Spit in S ...

started the trend in 1915, with Enterprise and Balmain quickly following the example. Glebe held another event in 1916 the same year that Leichhardt, Balmain and the Enterprise club held a combined

Rodd Island Rodd Island is a island on the Parramatta River in Sydney, Australia. It lies in the centre of Iron Cove, between the suburbs of Drummoyne, Russell Lea, Rodd Point, Haberfield, Lilyfield and Leichhardt. It is located west of the Sydney Har ...

rendezvous. In May 1953 for the second time in its history the club house was completely destroyed by fire and all boats were again lost. The club entered a hiatus until rebuilding commenced in 1957. Due to financial difficulties in the mid-1990s the GRC lost rights to its original shed. The upper floor was taken over by a restaurant and the shed by the Sydney University Women's Rowing Club. Olympian Kim Mackney was club's sole member from 1994 to 2004 and struggled to keep the club alive in that time. Eventually a new shed facility was secured immediately next to the Ferry Road boathouse. Sydney 02 11 2008

Club presidents

* Sir

, first Mayor of Glebe, Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly and the club's inaugural President. *

Kim Mackney Kim Mackney (born 5 February 1949) is an Australian former representative rower. He competed in the men's coxless pair event at the 1972 Summer Olympics. From school until the national elite representative level and onto a long world-class mas ...

, President (1994–2016) was the club's sole member from 1994 to 2004 and presided over the club's re-establishment from 2004 and its return to viability.

Members

Notable members include: * Laurie Stepto OAM club member 1947 to 1986; senior office bearer with Rowing NSW 1955 to 1986 incl President 1978–86 and a former manager of an Australian touring rowing squad. Olympic representative members include: *

rowed in the coxless pair at

Munich 1972 The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

. He was a

member when he gained Olympic selection but was a Glebe member afterward and dedicated a life of service to the club. *

Islay Lee Islay Lee (born 4 October 1949) is an Australian former rower. He was a fifteen-time national champion in both sculls (four times) and sweep-oared boats (eleven times), a national representative at world championships and a dual Olympian. He co ...

was a

member when he became a dual Olympian but earlier won two national championship titles in Glebe colours in 1970 and 1972. World champions include: * George Cook, world professional sculling champion 1949.George Cook at Guerin-Foster
/ref> *

Graham Gardiner Graham Gardiner is an Australian former lightweight rowing, lightweight rower. He is a two-time World Champion. Club and state rowing Gardiner's commenced his senior rowing with the Glebe Rowing Club and competed in a men's junior Coxed four, 4+ ...

, world champion 1980 in a lightweight coxless four.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* {{cite book, url = http://www.rowinghistory-aus.info/club-histories/sydney/index.php , last = May , first = Alan , year =1970 , title = Sydney Rows{{!A History of Sydney Rowing Club, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120419160309/http://www.rowinghistory-aus.info/club-histories/sydney/index.php , archive-date = 19 April 2012

External links

Glebe Rowing Club
Rowing clubs in Australia Sports clubs and teams established in 1879 1879 establishments in Australia Sports clubs and teams in Sydney