Mr
Eaton did not waste any time as the opening ceremony
took place on Saturday November 15, 1879, when a Regatta
was held.
Thus
the clubhouse took shape and the North Shore had its
first sporting institution.
The
North Shore Rowing Club operated on this site until 1890
despite a sustained campaign by the State Member for
St. Leonards to have it removed. This State Member even
went to the expense of introducing into the Legislative
Assembly a private member's bill — the North Shore
Borough's Wharf Bill —the object of which was to
oust the Club from the site. The members of the club
stood firm but finally voluntarily vacated the Willoughby
Street site and moved the clubhouse to the opposite side
of Careening Cove where a Mr. John Wilson owned a water
frontage.
At
the next State Election, the North Shore Rowing Club's
Captain, M. T. E. Cresswell, was nominated for the St.
Leonards' constituency and as a result of active campaigning
by club members and local sympathisers, won the seat
comfortably.
Realising
the necessity for securing a site with security of tenure,
the Committee then negotiated a lease with the Harbour
Trust for a block of land at the head of Careening Cove
and a new clubhouse was erected there in 1903. By this
time membership had increased to seventy-five and the
Club had had some success in Inter-Club and Inter-Colonial
racing.
With
the growth of ferry traffic on the Harbour, the choppy
water and the fact that, in any sort of a "Southerly" it
was extremely difficult to boat from Careening Cove,
it was realised by the late 1920's that something would
have to be done to provide more suitable conditions for
the preparation of racing crews.
Following
the Jubilee celebrations of the North Shore Rowing Club
in 1929, the Committee took the first step towards obtaining
a new location for the Clubhouse when it inspected a
site on Yacht Bay, just above Longueville Wharf on the
Lane Cove River. To cut a long story short, the Club,
with the co-operation of the Lane Cove Council, secured
permission to build on the Yacht Bay site, and on November
25, 1933, the Branch Clubhouse was opened. Club members
were then able to take advantage of the perfect rowing
conditions available on the Lane Cove River.
Regrettably,
with the difficult economic conditions prevailing during
the depression years, it was found to be impracticable
to keep both sheds going and on 3rd August, 1937, it
was decided to dispose of the Careening Cove Clubhouse.
All the Club's activities were then transferred to the
Yacht Bay Clubhouse.
The
constitution of the North Shore Rowing Club gives as
its main object "the encouragement of the practice of
Amateur rowing". For a century the Club has done this,
and in the process has given health and strength to thousands
of young Australians and Club members have achieved many
notable successes over the years in State, National,
and International competition.
The
oldest sporting club on the North Shore of our famous
Sydney Harbour is this season,1979, celebrating its Centenary
year. A committee made up of twenty five past and present
club members is organising a series of functions to celebrate
the Centenary and to launch the Club on its second one
hundred years.
Obituary
for Spencer Grace, OAM
Obituary
for Ted Bromley |
