On the Wednesday night of March 12, 1890, the shed was washed away by a flood of approximately the same height as the 1974 flood. However the boats and blades were saved.

The club immediately started proceedings to get a new shed and it was opened to members on June 14, 1890. The Kibble Cup presented by one of the Vice Presidents was first competed for on March 21, 1891.

On February 22, 1893, the boatshed was again washed away in the "Great Flood", but again the boats and equipment were saved. The committee felt they could not go to the public again and the boats were sold to Maryborough Rowing Club and the club was disbanded. The floodwaters reached a height of 31 feet at the Port Office gauge and rose to 18 inches above the second floor of the Regatta Hotel.

At a meeting held in the Masonic Hall, Toowong, on July 6, 1910, it was decided to form a rowing club with a shed near the Toowong Ferry and to be called the Toowong Rowing Club. On August 27 it was announced that tenders had been called for the removal of a hall located in Jephson Street and for its re-erection on the river bank just upstream from the Regatta Hotel. The members levelled the mangrove swamp on the river bank and sank the stumps into the mud. A discarded pontoon was purchased, overhauled and installed and served the club's requirements until sunk in 1918 by a thoughtless motor boat proprietor.

A second hand clinker eight was purchased in Melbourne and was expected to arrive early in January, 1911. The club entered in the Champion Eights of Queensland on February 11, 1911, even though they would have less than 3 weeks together. The club still did not have a pontoon and were boating from Commercial Rowing Club. They were given permission to use the Q.R.A. eight for the championship at a rental of one pound per week. As expected the crew came third and last behind Commercial and Brisbane Rowing Clubs, the margins being 6 lengths and 2 lengths.

At the first Annual General Meeting held on July 24, 1911, Dr. J.O'N. Mayne was elected as President and W.Strickland was a Vice President. The club held their first regatta and the official opening of the shed on August 26, 1911. The Kibble Cup was again competed for by club members, having been kept in safekeeping.

During the 1911/12 season the club had good rewards for their labours and won invitation fours (2), maiden eight and maiden four, junior and senior fours and ran second in the Champion Eight.

On December 21, 1912, the club gave itself a wonderful Christmas present by winning the Championship Eight of Queensland on the Hamilton Reach defeating Commercial Rowing Club by slightly over a length. The crew was : G.Osbaldiston (B) R.D.Leslie (2) T.Mellers (3) L.Petrie (4) S.Henderson (5) W.Taylor (6) A.McDonald (7) A.Petrie (S) and G.McKenzie (Cox).

The Great War of 1914/18 now intervened and of a membership of 40 there were 31 who joined the Australian forces and 11 of these died in the conflict. After the last regatta held by Commercial on September 18, 1915, the club closed its doors and there were only 3 remaining members not accepted for service.

The club had obtained an overdraft to buy a new eight in 1913 and this continued to accrue interest with no members to look after the affairs of the club. Eventually in 1919 the overdraft reached the limit the bank was prepared to tolerate and the shed and equipment was sold to the Christian Brothers Schools Rowing Club for the bare amount of the overdraft, 200 pounds. The members returning from service found they had no clubhouse and no equipment. The club was again disbanded.

A newspaper article on May 2, 1924, gave a long account of the Queensland crew winning the King's Cup in Adelaide. It then went on to deplore the lack of competition in Brisbane rowing with only Commercial and Brisbane clubs in operation. It was suggested that new blood was needed to revive the flagging enthusiasm and commented on the old Toowong Club's record when they had 7 men and the coxswain selected in the 1914 Queensland crew (the race was cancelled) and suggested the re-opening of the Toowong Rowing Club.

On July 2, 1924, a meeting of ex-members of Toowong was held in the Oddfellows Hall in Toowong, with G.Osbaldiston, an ex-captain presiding. Those present decided to form a club to be known as Toowong Rowing Club. Messrs W.L.Dowd and C.A.Grimley were appointed Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary respectively and a general meeting was called for within the next fortnight to elect permanent officers.

A newspaper report stated that the main movers of the re-formation were two men who were the backbone of Brisbane rowing administration, namely W.L.Dowd (active member of Brisbane R.C.) and C.A.Grimley (active member of Commercial R.C.), but it would appear that the fine hand of G.A.Osbaldiston would have been deeply involved also. The club would provide new blood as it contained only three active members of present Brisbane clubs. The third member was J.A.Allison.

So began the third coming of Toowong Rowing Club.

On July 15, the general meeting was held in the Oddfellows Hall and the main office bearers elected were:

Patron:	Mr.J.F.Maxwell, M.L.A. (served as Patron 1924 until 1938)
President:	Mr.W.Strickland (a member of the 1910/19 club who served as President 1924/32)
Chairman:	Mr.J.Avery
Captain:	G.A.Osbaldiston (from 1910/19 club)
Vice Captain:	C.Horn (from 1910/19 club)
Hon.Secretary:	C.A.Grimley
Hon.Treasurer:	W.L.Dowd

The club was re-formed to work on conservative lines and established on an impregnable financial footing; to rebuild on the old site at Toowong and to perpetuate and honour the memory of fallen comrades by naming the boathouse "The Toowong Memorial Boathouse" and to also name each unit of the fleet after one of the boys whose memory it was wished to keep fresh for many years.

The University of Queensland Boat Club very generously invited Toowong members to boat from their shed in the Domain (the site of the present Q.I.T.) pending erection of the Toowong shed.They also placed an old clinker eight at Toowong's disposal. As a result the Club's colours made their first appearance on the water at Henley-on-Brisbane on the New Farm Reach on October 11, 1924. Some of the members engaged in this regatta had not done any rowing since 1914. They entered a maiden four, 2 crews in the Henley Fours and an entry in the Henley Eights.

In the Henley Eights which was rowed over five eights of a mile, the Toowong crew used the old University clinker eight which had been discarded several years before because of a "kink" in the boat and several years of sitting on a rack had not improved its condition. It apparently was patched after each nights rowing in the week before the race and was comparatively watertight on race day. The Toowong crew won from Commercial and Brisbane, and the newspaper report suggested that if the race had been any longer than the five eights of a mile the boat would not have held out.

The club continued to race with success in Under 20 and maiden fours. During the season the club started in 20 public races, winning 8, and rowing second in 6. While the racing continued the serious business of procuring a boathouse also continued. At a general meeting on December 19, 1924, proposals for a clubhouse were discussed. It was eventually decided to erect a single storied building with concrete floor and foundations for the present, with a start to be made as soon as plans were approved by the Toowong Town Council. The Council, in approving the plans, made a grant of 40 pounds towards the cost of the concrete work. An extended rainy season prevented the concrete work being completed until early in July, 1925.

The 1925/26 season did not produce a great number of wins since the difficulties of training and still contributing to the large amount of work required of members did not add up to good racing.

The club's activities were transferred to Toowong from University Club boatshed before Christmas 1925. The club still did not have a pontoon but luckily a second hand pontoon was located which was estimated would serve for several years. It would appear that it was in place for the official opening. The official opening was held on March 20, 1926, with a combined aquatic carnival and fete. Three second hand practice fours were purchased in Sydney and restored to first class condition.

The Strickland Shield regatta was conducted on May 22, 1926. This trophy which had been presented in 1912 by the current Club President, Mr.W.Strickland, had been competed for only once before the club disbanded and had also been in safekeeping.

The 1926/27 season was to be a very memorable one. The system of coaching which the club captain, George Osbaldiston, had carried out so patiently from the re-start 3 years before, now bore fruit in most spectacular fashion.

At the Q.R.A. regatta on October 16, 1926, the club won every race in which they started - 5 out of 6. They won the Champion Four of Queensland, the junior four, association eight, Under 20 four and the senior four. The Champion Four crew was: G.Leitch (B) P.Taylor (2) F.Downie (3) L.R.Smith (S) and A.McVinish (Cox).

On November 27 the club travelled to Rockhampton to contest the Champion Eight of Queensland. Finance was a big problem and Leichhardt R.C. placed their eight at the disposal of Toowong. Unfortunately the only other contestant was Rockhampton R.C. who rowed well for 2 miles and then Toowong asserted their superiority to win by five lengths. The winning crew was: G.Leitch (B) J.Roylance (2) E.G.Prior (3) D.Jones (4) F.Downie (5) P.Taylor (6) J.A.Allison (7) L.R.Smith (S) W.Carver (Cox) W.Doherty (Trainer) and G.Osbaldiston (Coach).

Joe Allison could not have been a young man at this time, since he had rowed in a senior four for Commercial R.C. in 1912.

After these highlights the club continued to compete and weathered the Depression years from 1928/32 with difficulty and was recovering well with two members in the Brisbane crew which won the Champion Eight of Queensland, but cancellation of the 1940 King's Cup precluded them from competing. The club closed its doors in November, 1941, with Cec Grimley and Joe Avery appointed as Trustees to ensure no repetition of the 1919 experience.

The club's colours were changed in 1938 from purple and white to the current colours of old gold and royal blue.

The club resumed activities in 1946 and full rowing activities did not start until the 1946/47 season with the club winning the Champion Brisbane River Four and Eight. The club won four successive Junior and Senior Brisbane Premierships and the first major success was the winning of the Champion Under 20 Four of Queensland on April 16, 1949. This was primarily a Brisbane Boys' College old boys crew, the college old boys contributing significantly to the club progress in this period.

The next major success was the double of the Queensland Champion Lightweight Four and the Under 20 Four in April, 1953, followed by the Queensland Champion Four in November, 1953. The Lightweights also won the Queensland titles in 1954, 1955 and 1963. The club was doing well and as most crews in the Queensland Champion Eight were district crews as far as Brisbane was concerned, there were no wins recorded in this event.

The club in this period was still struggling financially and new boats were a rarity. Toowong wrung more use out of re-cycled racing and training boats than any other club in Queensland. The main drive in the club was the pairing of Les Keefer and Ron Ormand as Captain and Vice Captain and later in the period, Dave Magoffoin as coach.

From 1969 onwards the club came into its own in relation to Queensland titles starting with the Lightweight Eight in 1969, Senior A Eight in 1970 and Lightweight Eights in 1971 and 1973.

On the Australia Day weekend in 1974, January 26, the shed was washed away by the flood which devastated much of suburban Brisbane. All boats and blades were saved and had to be kept moving from spot to higher spot as the waters continued to rise- BBC shed was also swept away.

Again University Boat Club came to the club's assistance and crews boated out of their shed until the new shed was finished in its present location and officially opened on July 3, 1976.

The club has continued to win an increasing number of Championships particularly as the list of Queensland Championships exploded.

One of the greatest factors in keeping Toowong afloat over many years has been their Ladies' Committees, consisting of mothers, wives, girlfriends, sisters and others the ladies could rope in to help. Their efforts running fetes on regatta days and later in staffing the stall at the RNA Exhibition provided the funds to keep the club going.

The club also had the benefit of several successive groups of male supporters who kept the club under strict control financially and those persons who gave of their time for many hours of coaching. From the time of the re-start in 1924, George Osbaldiston as Captain and Coach, Charlie Horn as Vice Captain, coach and boat repairer, Bill Dowd as Treasurer, Cec Grimley as Secretary and later as senior advisers, kept the club going until the 1939/45 war.

After the war Les Keefer and Ron Ormand as Captain and Vice Captain, coaches and boat repairers made a huge contribution. Dave Magoffin as coach,followed by Terry Mulligan, Dave Ochert, Jack Hutchinson, Tom Jack and many others carried the banner from 1970 for many years, and the work of Cal Malouf, Jack Hutchinson, Jim Dowrie, Frank Moss and Terry Mulligan in ensuring a new clubhouse was built in 1976, made certain.

Club Values 

We believe in:

• acting as a nursery for future Olympic athletes;
• providing opportunity for personal development, collective responsibility and sporting excellence;
• maintaining the highest principles of professionalism, honesty and accountability;
• leading by example;
• treating all members equitably, fairly and with respect, recognising and valuing their difference;
• encouraging and rewarding team work in setting and achieving our goals;
• encouraging and supporting the concept of a local rowing prescient;
• respecting the personal needs of individuals and the community at large; and
• communicating honestly, openly and effectively.

 

The vision of the Club is reflected in our mission statement:-

To be a centre for rowing in the community combining the concept of participation by all members with the pursuit of excellence.