Walter Edward Howard Jarvis (3 July 1895 – 18 February 1985) was a South Australian

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

. He was a three-time national champion who represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

in the men's eight.

Club and state rowing

Jarvis was employed as a foreman and his senior rowing was from the Murray Bridge Rowing Club. The Murray Bridge Rowing Club men's eight was the dominant Australian club eight of the 1920s. They won the South Australian state championship from 1920 to 1923 and in 1921 by a margin of ten lengths. For the four years from 1920 to 1923 they were selected in-toto as the South Australian men's eight to contest the

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

at the Australian Interstate Regatta. Jarvis rowed in the three seat of each of those crews and rowed in those South Australian King's Cup victories of 1920, 1922 and 1923,.

International representative rowing

The South Australian media pushed for Jarvis' victorious 1920 King's Cup eight to be sent to the

1920 Antwerp Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch and German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. In M ...

but with the Victorian and New South Wales Rowing Association in control of selections and funding, there wasn't sufficient support for their campaign. By 1924 with South Australia continuing to dominate Australian eights rowing, their claim could not be denied and after winning a test event raced on Port Adelaide in March 1924, Jarvis and the South Australian crew were selected in-toto to represent Australia as an eight at the

. Funding was raised from the Murray Bridge Rowing Club, the South Australian Rowing Association and the general public of South Australia. The crew were nicknamed "the Murray Cods". Unlike the 1912 Olympic eight, the Murray Cods were not invited to race in lead-up at the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

and in 2000 Ted Thomas jnr a crew member's son, asserted that this was because the eight was crewed by working class men other than the stroke Bill Sladden2000 speech remembering the Murray Cods
/ref> It's undisputed that tour funds were scarce and on arrival in France, the crew had to row their shell 60 km to their training base; that on tour some of the crew busked as musicians to raise pocket money; and that on race day they first rowed their shell 26 miles from their boatshed to the Olympic course. Their equipment was also sub-par as they rowed with their oars turning in out-rigged poppets rather than in swivelling gates as had become the norm by 1924. In the Olympic regatta, with Jarvis solid in the three seat, the Australian eight finished second behind Italy in their heat, then finished third in the repechage and didn't advance to the final. Jarvis did not row on after the Olympics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, Walter 1895 births 1985 deaths Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Sportsmen from South Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen