Our beginnings

Black Mountain Rowing Club Inc is one of the oldest rowing clubs in Canberra. It has a complex lineage because of the changes in nomenclature but remained united by history, crews, fleets and location.

The Lake filled in April 1964 and within months a number of rowing clubs had formed. The Burns Rowing Club was one and the Telopea Park High School was another. These two clubs were very closely associated because key members of the Burns Rowing Club were teachers at Telopea High School. This included its President, Alan Thornhill, who was sportsmaster and geography teacher at Telopea, and Nigel Murray-Harvey, who was an arts teacher and who coached Telopea's winning Eight in the first Head of the Lake Regatta in 1966.

The Burns Rowing Club ceased competing iin the early 1970s but some key links remained with the Telopea rowing club. After 1975, with the creation of Narrabundah College, it came to be known as the Telopea Narrabundah Student Rowing Club. Fairly quickly Telopea High School, which only went to year 10, lost contact with the Club.

Graduating students from Narrabundah formed the Eastern Suburbs Rowing Club in final quarter of 1977. They had none of their own boats, continuing to row with in the same shed with Telopea/Narrabundah students, often with joint crews. Easts effectively managed the fleet and assisted with the student rowing. An ealry Easts' eight is shown below.

When Narrabundah started participating in the Nationals in the early 1980s it had to row under the school name, which was Narrabundah College, consequently it became known as Narrabundah. This was the name adopted formally by the Club in 1988. In December 1991, the Club moved its operations to the Black Mountain Peninsula.

The association with Narrabundah College ended in 1993 when Fred Flanigan ceased rowing and teaching to concentrate on other sports and activtities, notwithstanding that many members had had graduated from Telopea/Narrabundah. Fred had been the founding President of Easts and for decade from 1983 had been both the Rowing Master at Narrabundah and a key Narrabundah Club manager.

The Club changed its name in December 1999 to Black Mountain Rowing Club to reflect its location and its open, community-based constituency.

It is located on the Black Mountain Peninsula at the western end of Lake Burley Griffin. It is in a prime position on Lake Burley Griffin adjacent to the main Canberra rowing course.

From its establishment, the club has been actively involved with schools, initially being closely associated with Telopea Park High School, Narrabundah College and recently Merici College.