Rowing Australia History

Rowing is one of the Australia’s oldest and most successful sports, recognised as much for its tradition and appeal to athletes of all ages as for its fantastic health benefits. Rowing is a cornerstone Olympic sport and Australian rowing has a long and proud history of success, consistently returning multiple medals at major international competitions.

Rowing is a part of Australia’s national sporting and cultural heritage, with international success dating back to 1867 when Edward “Ned” Trickett won Australia’s first ever sporting World Championship. Rowing continues to play an important part in Australia’s sporting culture, providing safe, fun and healthy opportunities for Australians of all ages and abilities to participate in a sport that provides unparalleled health benefits.

Rowing Australia (RA) is the national governing body for the sport of rowing. The vision of RA and its members is “To be the number one rowing nation in the world”, from sustained international success, to its vibrant and inclusive community, its high quality events, right through to the safe, fun and healthy participation opportunities for all Australians.

Rowing is a sport for life, accessible to people of all ages, genders, fitness and skill levels, and currently enjoyed by over 60,000 participants and 25,000 active members ranging from young rowers at school through to those at universities and in the wider community right through to masters rowing.

Rowing Australia member associations operate in seven states with over 185 schools and 156 clubs offering rowing programs.

To inspire our community to achieve excellence and wellbeing through the sport of rowing.

Our vision is powerful and unambiguous. It provides a common goal that unites the entire Australian rowing community. Achieving our collective vision will require Australian rowing to lead the world across all of its activities, from sustained international success, to its vibrant and inclusive community, its high quality events, right through to the safe, fun and healthy participation opportunities it provides for all Australians.

INTEGRITY | Ethically and transparently be accountable for our sport.

TEAMWORK | Achieve collective success by pulling together all levels of sport in one direction.

RESPECT | Genuinely embrace diversity and invite and value contributions from everyone in our community.

COURAGE | Seek and encourage innovative thinking and brave actions to shape our legacy.

ALIGNMENT | Strong collaboration & communication between all stakeholders to grow and deliver the sport.

INCLUSION | Fostering inclusive environments and embedding principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion across the sport.

PERFORMANCE | Integrated & aligned performance ecosystem that delivers success milestones at all levels of the sport.

INNOVATION | Seeking innovative strategies to grow and develop the sport.

SUSTAINABILITY | Embedding principles of sustainability and pursuing initiatives that are important and relevant to the rowing community.

Rowing In Australia | 2022 - 2032 | Stronger Together

The awarding of the 2032 Olympic Games to Brisbane provides Australian sport with an incredible opportunity to capitalise on the 10-year Green and Gold runway into the Games and the 10-year legacy post-Games. The legacy of the Sydney 2000 Games is still fresh in the hearts and minds of many Australians, despite the two decades that have since passed. As it was for Sydney, Brisbane 2032 will help drive sports participation and engagement, volunteering, and sustained success across the Australian sporting sector for decades to come.

Through this lens and in consultation with our stakeholders across the sport, we are presented with an unprecedented opportunity to refocus our strategic priorities and objectives with a long-term and future-focused approach to the growth and development of Rowing in Australia. There are many challenges that our sport will face in a post-Covid world, but this also creates new and exciting opportunities to embrace our rich history as a strong foundation to engage with existing, new and diverse participants through both traditional and non-traditional pathways and disciplines and as we enter the digital age.

The Rowing in Australia Strategic Plan will guide our sport through the 10-year runway into 2032, as a 5 + 5 plan that will focus on the key strategic priorities for the whole of sport. This reframed scope builds off the widespread consultation and work completed in the 2017 Culture Journey, as well as exhaustive consultation with key stakeholders and members of the community, and the current State Rowing Association strategic plans.

The Rowing in Australia 5+5 Strategic Plan should be read in conjunction with the Australian Rowing Delivery Framework, which comprehensively articulates the roles and responsibilities of the key partners who deliver the sport of Rowing in Australia. This document will be made available on the Rowing Australia website in June 2022.

These two documents cover whole-of-sport and provide a plan that outlines as the sport of Rowing what we will focus on and invest in, and articulates clear responsibilities and activities accountably delivered to achieve our agreed ambitions over the next decade.

Rowing in Australia 5+5 Strategic Plan

Our Olympic Gold Medallists

Australian Rowing has a strong and proud history at the Olympic Games dating back to 1928 when Henry 'Bobby' Pearce won our first Olympic Gold for the Men's Single Scull.

Henry 'Bobby' Pearce Men's Single Sculls Amsterdam 1928 & Los Angeles 1932

Mervyn Wood Men's Single Sculls London 1948

Peter Antonie & Stephen Hawkins Men's Double Sculls Barcelona 1992

Andrew Cooper, Michael McKay, Nicholas Green & James Tomkins Men's Four Barcelona 1992

Mike McKay, Nicholas Green, James Tomkins & Drew Ginn Men's Four Atlanta 1996

Kate Slatter & Megan Still Women's Pair Atlanta 1996

James Tomkins & Drew Ginn Men's Pair Athens 2004

David Crawshay & Scott Brennan Men's Double Sculls Beijing 2008

Drew Ginn & Duncan Free Men's Pair Beijing 2008

Kim Brennan AM Women's Single Sculls Rio 2016

Alex Purnell OAM, Spencer Turrin OAM, Jack Hargreaves OAM & Alex Hill OAM Men's Four Tokyo 2020

Lucy Stephan OAM, Rosie Popa OAM, Jessica Morrison OAM & Annabelle McIntyre OAM Women's Four Tokyo 2020

Our Paralympic Gold Medallists

Australian Paralympic Rowing has a fresh and powerful history with para-rowing being introduced into the Paralympic Games in Beijing 2008.

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Nikki Ayers & Jed Altschwager PR3 Mixed Double Sculls Paris 2024

OUR PATRON

Mrs Gina Rinehart AO

The Rowing Australia family is incredibly proud that Mrs Gina Rinehart AO is our Patron. In 2016 Mrs Rinehart AO committed to supporting rowing both through her patronage and through a transformational partnership deal that provides a significant and long-term investment to support the delivery of Rowing Australia’s High Performance Plan CampaignNumberOne. This support is in addition to the large amount of generous philanthropic support she provides a number of other organisations across the country and abroad. Rowing Australia is so grateful for her investment into our beloved sport of rowing.

Rowing Australia President Rob Scott: “We are incredibly excited that Mrs Rinehart has kindly agreed to continue as Patron right up until LA 2028. Her Patronage has been of overwhelming value, and to have her agree to continue in this role as we come together to become one of the world’s best rowing nations is momentous for the sport. Mrs. Rinehart is an outstanding role model for Australia, and it is what she symbolises – her dedication, hard work, perseverance and love for her country – which have made her so successful not only in business but in her personal feats, which is why her patronage is so important and beneficial to our rowers.

Our vision is to be the world’s number one rowing nation and this significant support from Hancock Prospecting and the Georgina Hope Foundation will allow rowing to deliver on the key strategies outlined in CampaignNumberOne that will support and develop Australia’s rowers like never before.”

To find out more of some of the outstanding philanthropic work that Mrs Rinehart and her foundation do please visit her website.