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Crew of YWCA Four outside Gardner's boatshed, Sydney
Crew of YWCA Four outside Gardner's boatshed, Sydney

Crew of YWCA Four outside Gardner's boatshed, Sydney

Printer
Date1929-1939
Object number00042417
NamePhotograph
MediumSilver gelatin, paper, ink
Dimensions86 x 134 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the Trixie Whaling Estate
DescriptionThis portrait depicts the crew of a Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) four standing outside Gardner's Boat Shed with their oars lined up behind them. Trixie Forrest was stroke of the YWCA No 1 Lightweight Junior Championship Four in 1930, on number 2 oar in the 1931 YMCA No 1 Lightweight Senior Fours and participated in the YWCA's 4th Annual Regatta in 1932. She was also honourary Treasurer of the YWCA 1932-33. Trixie is likely to be second on right and the central woman is either T. or E. Riley.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 photograph of a YWCA Four crew is important in documenting the activities of this and other women's rowing clubs in the years prior to WWII.