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YWCA Regatta Lightweight Senior Fours pennant
YWCA Regatta Lightweight Senior Fours pennant

YWCA Regatta Lightweight Senior Fours pennant

Maker
DateNovember 1931
Object number00042428
NamePennant
MediumFelt, cotton, ink
Dimensions300 x 750 x 2 mm
ClassificationsCommemorative artefacts
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the Trixie Whaling Estate
DescriptionThis black felt Young Women's Christian Association Ladies Rowing Club pennant features the pale blue triangular logo of the YWCA. Text along the pennant reads: 'YWCA / Regatta 1931 / Lightweight Senior Four / YWCA T. Forest stroke'. Black ribbon is stitched to the upper and lower edge for hanging.HistoryWomen's amateur rowing in New South Wales dates back to 1909 when Alice Bentley formed a women's swimming and rowing club at Rushcutters Bay. As conditions proved too rough for regular rowing the club moved to Kemp's boatshed at Abbottsford (now Sydney High School Boathouse) and the Western Suburbs Ladies Rowing Club was formed. By the 1920s the club was renamed Sydney Ladies Rowing Club, and then the Sydney Women's Rowing Club. This was the sole amateur women's rowing club in New South Wales until 1929 when the YWCA Rowing Club was formed followed by the Balmain and Abbotsford clubs. In 1920 an Interstate Women's race was contested in conjunction with the King's Cup and the Australian Women's Rowing Council was formed. The 1920s and 30s were big decades for women rowers as more women joined the workforce and women's team sports became popular. The 'lady rowers' of the early part of the century eventually emerged as popular women's teams in the 1920s and 30s. This period saw a boom in women's rowing through the formation of amateur associations, the successful staging of national sporting events and the increased coverage of women's sport in the national press.