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New South Wales Ladies Rowing Association Lightweight Junior Fours pennant
New South Wales Ladies Rowing Association Lightweight Junior Fours pennant

New South Wales Ladies Rowing Association Lightweight Junior Fours pennant

Date20 December 1930
Object number00042429
NamePennant
MediumFelt, ink
Dimensions280 x 720 x 2 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the Trixie Whaling Estate
DescriptionThis pennant was presented to Trixie Forest, stroke of the Young Women's Christian Assocition (YWCA) crew for winning the State Lightweight Junior Fours event on 20 December 1930. The crew consisted of H Ray in the bow, P Hay in 2nd seat, E Riley in 3rd seat and T Forrest (or Forest) in stroke.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. SignificanceThis pennant represents one of the types of awards given as prizes to winning crews.