The Australian Boat Race

The Australian Boat Race is the annual rowing match race between the Sydney and Melbourne University Boat Clubs. The 2012 race will be held on Sunday November 4 on Sydney Harbour and run from Woolwich to Darling Harbour.

Held annually, the venue alternates between the Yarra River in the heart of Melbourne and Sydney Harbour. It encapsulates the long-standing rivalry between the two great cities and two great universities. It is set to become a showcase event on each of the cities’ iconic watercourses and is the new chapter of a 150-year-old rivalry between these two Universities both on and off the water. In 2012 the race returns to Sydney Harbour.

Sydney and Melbourne are Australia’s oldest and best-known universities. Their rowing clubs were founded in 1859 and 1860 respectively and are currently the two most successful rowing clubs in Australia, together contributing 18 athletes to the London Olympic rowing team.

The two rowing clubs met informally on the Yarra in 1860. By 1870 the rowing competition between Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide universities became a regular feature, eventually growing into the annual intervarsity competition still held today.

Australia’s future first Prime Minister Edmund Barton rowed in the Sydney boat at the first regatta in 1870. While the University of Melbourne was victorious on that first occasion, there has been an on-giong rivalry between these two universities both on and off the water.

150 years after the first regatta, the Vice Chancellors, Dr Glyn Davis and Dr Michael Spence agreed to an annual “match race” between men’s eights and women’s eights from each rowing club. The Australian Boat Race began in 2010 over a 6.9 km course in Sydney from Leichhardt Rowing Club to Riverview Wharf.

In 2011, the second Australian Boat Race was held over 4.2 kms on the Yarra River in central Melbourne starting at the Docklands-Casino Precinct and finishing at the Melbourne University Boatshed near Flinders Street Station.

Sydney and Melbourne University rowing clubs contain some of the nation's finest athletes. The crews, which include several Olympians, are high achievers balancing academic, sport and business commitments. The sport of rowing is widely recognised as clean, physically demanding, and requiring discipline and teamwork. Not only will they have the weight of expectation from their teammates, but also the pride of their Universities and States are at stake.

The history and rivalry between two of Australia’s oldest and greatest universities and their rowing clubs creates a new race with an immediate sense of tradition -- one that is quickly becoming a major annual event. It is set to become a showcase event on each of the cities' iconic watercourses.

The race returns to Sydney Harbour in 2012, starting at Woolwich and finishing in Darling Harbour. It promises unique and breathtaking visual perspectives as the crews race towards the CBD.

The Edmund Barton Trophy for The Men’s Eight:
This trophy designed and produced by Melbourne sculptor Jennifer Mann is named after Australia’s first Prime Minister.

More importantly though, Edmund Barton represented Sydney University in the two seat of the first official Intervarsity race between Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide universities. The race was in fours and held on the Yarra.

Edmund Barton was born in Glebe in 1849 just a stone’s throw from Sydney University. He attended university from 1865 to 1870 earning a Bachelor and Masters in Arts. He was admitted to the Bar in 1871. Barton was active in sport (cricket and rowing) and in politics. One notable point was his umpiring of cricket and in one particular colonial match (NSW v Lord Harris’s English XI) in which a riot broke out after a decision in favour of the English XI by his fellow umpire.

For more information on The Australian Boat Race go to: http://www.australianboatrace.com/