School celebrates tales of rowing past

THREE years ago, Ballarat High School held a reunion dinner, marking their rowing program’s first Head of the Lake win in 1947.

Two members of the original boys crew were in that room to share their experiences. The club realised these colourful stories needed to be recorded and it inspired them to place their oars of research a little deeper in archival waters.

Now 110 years since BHS first boated, initially as Ballarat Agricultural High School, director of rowing Rob Simmonds, and former history and English teacher Barry Ryan have curated a special celebration.

Row up, High School is their book, sharing club history from 1910 to 2019. It’s set to launch on 22 February ahead of the school’s 75th Head of the Lake, but there’s so much more to the story than training for the annual Ballarat Associated Schools meet.

“The first headmaster on the school site was J.H Refshauge, and he was given £150 in 1910 to build a boatshed,” Mr Ryan said.

“He thought, ‘we’ll compete against St Pats, College and Grammar,’ in what they called the Ballarat Public Schools Association. So they tried to get in and these three schools said, ‘no, you’re boycotted, you’re a government school.’

“The first chapter is about when they competed against Melbourne High School, Colac Agricultural High School, Geelong High School… All government schools… They even went to Colac on New Year’s Eve to race them.”

In 1943, BHS was finally accepted into the BPSA, but for 30-plus years, the team pushed to raise money internally, still relying on “super generous” external support.

“Ballarat City Rowing Club, Ballarat Rowing Club and later, Wendouree, loaned boats and the use of their facilities, so Ballarat High School has a lot to thank those clubs for,” Mr Ryan said.

The many vibrant stories of crews and their individuals in Row up, High School include the tale of Military Cross recipient, John Foster Gear, the introduction of girls’ rowing in 1980, the National Championship success during the drought, 17-year-old Noah Mullane’s 1000m Indoor Rowing World Record, and opening the current boatshed in 1961.

There’s a fiery telling of a traditional boat burning, and even a link to the Anthony Hopkins movie, The World’s Fastest Indian.

“In 1961, a boy in year 10 was rowing in the Open Firsts for Ballarat High School. He was Roger Donaldson, now a Hollywood director of about 30, top-notch films,” Mr Ryan said.

“This was one of the big historical finds for Rob and I. He kept a really detailed, day-by-day diary of the nine weeks before Head of the Lake.

“He was 15. It’s the 1961 account of a firsts rower experiencing it all, rowing in the race and telling you all about it.”

For Mr Ryan, BHS rowing history is about people in the light and behind the scenes, keeping the club comfortably moving, like a stroke seat sets a boat’s race pace.

“It’s been about the terrific work of volunteers, coaches and people raising the hard-earned. The book’s a hymn to volunteers,” he said.

Leading current rowers, Mr Simmonds hopes the book will encourage a deeper appreciation of who and what’s gone before them.

“A tree was planted yesterday so we can sit in the shade of it today, and I see this as us planting a tree for them to look back,” he said.

Each copy of Row up, High School is $47, representing the first Head of the Lake win in 1947. All proceeds will be steered towards the rowing program.

They can be ordered at trybooking.com/BHXOW or from the school general office. Email [email protected] for further information.

A dinner and official launch will be held at Housey Housey, 12 Armstrong Street North at 6.30pm on Saturday, 22 February. Tickets are at the above link.