Glebe Rowing Club
| Glebe Rowing Club | |
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| Location | Glebe, Sydney, Australia |
| Home water | Blackwattle Bay, Sydney Harbour |
| Founded | July 1879 |
| Affiliations | NSW Rowing Association |
| Website | www.gleberowingclub.org.au |
Glebe Rowing Club is the third oldest rowing club in continuous operation on Sydney Harbour and was established in July 1879 in Blackwattle Bay Sydney, Australia. It has occupied its current location at the foot of Ferry St, Glebe since the club's inception. GRC is a community based club with a focus on novice, women's and social rowing and with a learn-to-row program.
The Glebe Club was founded with an open attitude in welcoming labourers as members unlike the other Sydney rowing clubs formed at that time - the Sydney Rowing Club and Mercantile. Glebe's first president was Sir George Wigram Allen, Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Glebe's first Mayor. Its first captain was Robert Clark, brother of Jim Clark, the Sydney's captain at that time. During the first ten years of the club's history it was the third most successful in Sydney winning 24 of the 260 races rowed between 1880 and 1890. In 1897 the shed at Blackwattle Bay and all the club's boats were destroyed by fire. A £570 insurance claim was made, a new shed opened only months later and a new fleet ordered. The club finished the last decade of the 19th century with 92 members and 11 boats.
At the end of the 1901/02 season, the club had 77 members and a fleet of 16 boats and had enjoyed some competitive success under club captain John McGregor. However, the club's decision to pay part of the capitation fees for its members of the New South Wales 1902 interstate crew caused considerable internal dissension, with a special meeting censuring the committee and several committee members then resigning.
Glebe competed against the Iron Cove clubs for the Leichhardt Challenge Shield during the 1910s, claiming victory from the Leichhardt Rowing Club in 1918. That decade also saw the commencement of combined rowing and social outings. Glebe and the Mosman Rowing Club started the trend in 1915, with Enterprise and Balmain quickly following the example. Glebe held another event in 1916 the same year that Leichhardt, Balmain and the Enterprise club held a combined Rodd Island rendezvous.
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