The History Of Wellington RC

Wellington Rowing Club is one of the famous rowing club’s in New Zealand. It was founded 125 years ago and earlier this spring the club published a jubilee book by one of its members, Michael Grace, to celebrate this event. I have previous written about this book, The Dolly Varden Legacy, (see entry on 27 May), but at that time I did not have the book in my hand. But now, here it is on my desk, a beautiful, well-written book with tons of interesting facts (also for those who have no connections to Wellington RC or New Zealand) and illustrated with some marvellous black & white photographs.

The book title is from a boat, the Dolly Varden, which successfully was used by some oarsmen in races in Wellington before the Wellington RC was even founded.

What I especially appreciate in The Dolly Varden Legacy: The History of the Wellington Rowing Club is the way Michael Grace (on the right) has manage to balance the club facts, results, etc. (that truly might only interest members of the club), with international rowers and events. To give you a couple of examples of the latter: Tom Sullivan, famous professional sculler and later coach, was a member of the club, and in the book he is given a whole chapter; the Maadi Camp Rowing Club founded by members of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Cairo in 1940. The Maadi Camp lives on in the Maadi Cup, which is a prize for the New Zealand secondary schools boys’ eights.

Wellington RC is to be congratulated for its first 125 years, and Michael Grace is to be praised for his hard work creating such a wonderful book.

The Dolly Varden Legacy can be ordered from the Wellington RC website by clicking here.