An oar-inspiring legacy
IF there is a building in Geelong that could be said to be well-travelled it would have to be the former Corio Bay Rowing Club boathouse which is located as part of the Western Beach Boat Club on Western Beach.
The boathouse was originally built on Eastern Beach, just to the east of the Yarra St Pier and was opened in 1879.
The rowing club had been formed after a succession of meetings at the Victoria Hotel at the northeast corner of Moorabool and Malop streets in the winter of 1873.
The sport of rowing had its beginnings in England in the 1700s with races among workers who were rowers because of their trades on the rivers and canals.
The first known regatta was held on the Thames in London in 1775.
Nearly a century later, the Corio Bay Rowing Club was formed with George Belcher elected as president. But it was a vice-president, Robert de Bruce Johnstone, a state parliamentarian, who was responsible for land being granted for the boathouse on Eastern Beach.
Johnstone later had Johnstone Park named after him.
Johnstone also officiated at the official opening of the boathouse, which was witnessed by the crews in three eights, two fours, a pair and two single sculls and about 60 onlookers.
The rowing club remained at Eastern Beach until 1921, when it relocated its boathouse to the Barwon River where it took up its position near the rival Barwon Rowing Club which had been formed in 1870.
The Corio Bay Rowing Club returned to the bay in 1927, this time relocating its boathouse to its current location on Western Beach.
In 1967 the rowing club decided to return to the river and built a new clubhouse and boatshed near the river end of Yarra St.
That clubhouse was extended in 1988 to cater for the then boom in women’s rowing. The extended clubrooms were opened by the state Minister for Sport Neil Trezise in June 1988. Contact: peterjohnbegg@gmail.com