Rowing shell from Bairnsdale Rowing Club

Datec 1940

Object number00030897

NameRowing scull

MediumWood (meranti, cedar, oregon, spruce, pine), metal (copper, brass, steel), hemp rope, leather, varnish

DimensionsOverall: 330 x 11030 x 700 mm, 83 kg
Vessel Dimensions: 11.62 m × 0.71 m (38.13 ft × 2.33 ft)

ClassificationsVessels and fittings

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Bairnsdale Rowing Club

Terms

DescriptionThis clinker-built timber Four from Bairnsdale Rowing Club in Victoria is a rare survivor. With space a premium in club boatsheds, old timber boats were usually destroyed to make way for the new lightweight shells.HistoryThe design and technology of this Four is the same as Victorian Regulation Training Fours of the 1920s - 1930s, although this one may have been built some time later. Their all-purpose design was used for training by all men, women and children rowers in Victoria until the beginning of World War II. But the shortage of boats, labour and materials immediately after the war kept clinker boats in use in many clubs well into the 1960s. Bairnsdale Rowing Club was founded in 1873 on the Mitchell River in the Gippsland area of Victoria, where it held regular competitions. The club helped to produce many champion oarsmen and women. The club was closed in the 1960s until it reopened in 1987 and made an appeal for boats and oars from metropolitan rowing clubs. This resulted in the donation of the clinker rowing boat which has subsequently been donated to the Australian National Maritime Museum.SignificanceThis rowing shell provides an important example of pre-war boat building materials and techniques. It also provides an evocative illustration of a style of sweep oar rowing enjoyed by thousands of school students and club members during the immediate post war period.