CHS Rowing History
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CHS ROWING 1964 - 2017 Homebush Boys High School – Champion School of the inaugural season of CHS competition shown holding the Mosman Rowing Club Shield for 1 st Tub Pairs and the NSW Rowing Association Perpetual Trophy for the winner of the annual pointscore. An Historical Study Peter Bond November 2017 CHS Rowing – a History This chronicle gives a history of CHS Rowing covering the fifty one championship regattas conducted between 1965 and 2017. Historical Perspective The first NSW schools to be involved in rowing were private schools that became members of the AAGPS when that body was formed in 1892. The first GPS rowing championship was conducted in 1893 with the Head of the River regatta being continuous since then except for a period of six years during the Second World War. The first government school to participate in rowing was Sydney Boys High which joined the GPS competition in 1924. Sydney Boys HS First Four 1924 – note the poppet oarlocks The first school outside Sydney to take an interest in the sport was the Maclean District Rural School where a three man butcher boat was built by the students of the manual class in 1936. Two more equivalent boats were purchased by the school in 1937 and 1938 with intra-school racing beginning in 1937. The first inter- school regatta took place between Maclean and Grafton High in 1943 using the Maclean boats, a situation that continued until 1946 when Grafton High bought four butcher boats of their own. School regattas have continued on the Northern Rivers since that time with the Head of the Clarence at Grafton being one of the biggest school regattas in the country. ‘Queen Mary’ the butcher boat built by Maclean District Rural School in 1936 The Combined High Schools Sports Association The first government schools sporting body formed in New South Wales was the NSW Public Schools Amateur Athletic Association (PSAAA), a primary school body set up in 1889 when “state high schools were virtually non-existent”. As the number of secondary schools gradually increased, the NSW Combined High Schools Amateur Athletics Association (CHSAAA) and the Girls Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) were formed as sub-committees of the PSAAA to co-ordinate sport in boys and girls high schools respectively. These sub-committees operated under the umbrella of the PSAAA which controlled the distribution of government funds and many other key functions. Following the dramatic growth in the number of high schools under the Wyndham scheme, the control of school sport was reorganized with the Combined High Schools Sports Association (CHSSA) and GSSSA becoming autonomous bodies in 1969. In keeping with the departmental policy of co-educational schooling and as a follow on from the amalgamation of boys and girls competitions in many sports into combined carnivals, the CHSSA and GSSSA were amalgamated in 1981 under the one title of CHSSA – commonly referred to as CHS. 1964 - CHS Rowing Established The origins of CHS Rowing were outlined by the inaugural convener Sid Hawkes in his foreword to the first annual rowing championships in 1965: “CHS Rowing began as a small after School group in the Winter of 1962, at Narwee Boys High School. The following Summer it was admitted as a recognised sport. The following year, both Ibrox Park High School and Mosman High School made their appearance at regattas. In 1964, The CHSAAA decided to officially adopt the sport giving Mr S Hawkes of Narwee High the authority to act as convener on their behalf” At that time, school events in eights, regulation fours and tub pairs were included on the programs of many Sydney metropolitan regattas. Government school crews were eligible to compete in these events but were outclassed by the more experienced GPS crews. In the first season of CHS Rowing, separate CHS events were conducted at a limited number of regattas for CHS crews in regulation fours and tub pairs. The season culminated in the CHS Championships with the title of Champion School decided by a pointscore covering all regattas that included CHS events. In the 1964/65 season, CHS events were raced over half a mile compared to one mile for the school regulation fours. Following that first season, race distances went metric with CHS tubs over 500 metres and CHS fours over 1000 metres compared to school regulation fours over 1500 metres. 1965 - The First CHS Championship Regatta The first CHS Championships were conducted on Saturday 3 rd April 1965 as part of the Metropolitan Regatta hosted by Sydney Rowing Club on the Parramatta River at Abbotsford. Fifteen schools participated with ten schools from metropolitan Sydney, three from the North Coast Region and two from the ACT. As the schools of the ACT were under the directorship of the NSW Department of Education at the time, schools from both NSW and the ACT were eligible to participate in CHS events. Competing schools: Cleveland Street Boys HS, Drummoyne Boys HS, The Forest HS, Homebush Boys HS, Hunters Hill HS, Ibrox Park Boys HS, Narwee Boys HS, Newtown Junior Boys HS, Sydney Boys HS, Vaucluse Boys HS - Grafton HS, Lismore HS, Richmond River HS - Narrabundah College, Telopea Park HS. Four events were conducted in 1965 with the inaugural winners being: First Four (Champion Four) - Lismore HS, Second Four - Ibrox Park Boys HS, First Tub Pair - Homebush Boys HS and Second Tub Pair - Richmond River HS. Homebush Boys HS won the title of Champion School with 42 points ahead of Narwee Boys HS on 36 points. Finish of the 1965 Champion Four - 1st Lismore HS, 2 nd Narwee Boys HS, 3 rd Richmond River HS 1966 & 1967 - The Second and Third Championships The second and third seasons of CHS rowing competition followed the same format as the first, with CHS events included at club regattas around the harbour and championship events conducted at Sydney Rowing Club’s Metropolitan Regatta. The increased prestige of CHS was shown on the cover of the regatta program with “C.H.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS” given the largest font on the page. Although Sydney Boys HS had entered crews in the first championship regatta, these had been junior crews only. This attitude changed for the second championship regatta in 1966 with the convener’s foreword stating “Sydney High has realised our worth by offering us their very best Fours to compete against.” The Sydney High crews lived up to their reputation, winning both the First and Second Fours and taking the trophy for Champion School. Program covers for the first two CHS Championship regattas The Champion Four event at the 1967 regatta was a close tussle between the two schools from Lismore; Richmond River HS and the 1965 winners Lismore HS. A member of the winning Richmond River crew was Islay Lee who was to go on to become an Olympic oarsman, CHS convener and president of the Australian Rowing Council. In the First Tub Pair event, Homebush Boys HS’s win made it three in a row for the school which they backed up by winning the Second Tub Pair as well. Although North Sydney Boys HS had not featured strongly in the championship placings, their performances at lead up regattas won them the title of Champion School. Sponsor Clubs During the early years of CHS rowing, the schools were totally dependent upon the sponsorship of rowing clubs which provided the boats and coaching expertise. Although Sydney Boys HS had an established fleet and boatshed at Abbotsford, no other Sydney school owned boats. The situation was different in the North Coast Region where Maclean HS and Grafton HS had established their own fleets decades before. Vaucluse Boys HS was the first Sydney school to buy a boat which they used successfully to win the CHS First Four in 1968. Later that year, Homebush Boys HS followed suit, having a regulation four built with poppets in place of swivel gates, the only boat in Sydney to use that outdated technology. The following year, the “controversial poppets” were replaced with orthodox swivels. This boat enabled Homebush to win two CHS First Fours in the early 1970s. However, the convener’s statement of 1967 held true for all schools: “Rowing in the C.H.S. Schools could not exist except for the generosity of the Clubs in making both equipment and coaches available and for this we extend to these Clubs our sincere thanks.” 1968 - CHS Rowing “Arrives” The convener’s foreword in 1966 had included the statement “With two years of good competitive rowing behind us, we can look in the near future to the time when a C.H.S. eight-oar race will be rowed. Then we shall have arrived!” The eight arrived in 1968 as the fifth event of the championship regatta, the first title going to Canberra’s Telopea Park HS. The First and Second Fours went to Vaucluse Boys HS and North Sydney Boys HS respectively while the Second Tub Pair had been converted to a Third Four won by Narrabeen Boys HS. Another change for 1968 was the venue, with the CHS events held in conjunction with club events on Iron Cove. The race distance for fours was extended from 1000m to 1500m while the tub pair remained at 500m. Telopea Park HS won the pointscore for Champion School. A lightweight four was added as a sixth event in 1969, for oarsmen of not more than 10 stone 2 pound in weight with a crew average not more than 10 stone. Drummoyne Boys HS won the inaugural Lightweight Four event with Sydney Boys HS first in the Eight and Manly Boys HS winning the First Fours.