About this club
Adelaide University Boat Club is affiliated with Adelaide University and rows from the Barr Smith Boathouse on War Memorial Drive beside the River Torrens, with a second facility at West Lakes. The current club encourages rowers of different ages, backgrounds and abilities.
The club was founded on 4 August 1881, two weeks after Torrens Lake opened, and the university archive describes it as Australia's second university boat club. It helped form the Adelaide University Sports Association in 1896.
Robert Barr Smith donated the main clubrooms in 1909, and the university sport timeline records the official boatshed opening on 11 July 1910. In 1984 Frances Adamson became the club's first female captain after 103 years.
Current options include a coached senior squad, juniors aged 17 and under, club competitive rowing for Masters over 27, occasional social rowing and a one-session introduction for Adelaide University students. Membership provides access according to category to the Barr Smith boathouse, gym and West Lakes facility.
The constitution identifies intervarsity racing, particularly the men's eight for the Oxford and Cambridge Cup, as a primary competitive purpose. The club won that cup at Penrith in 1974 for the first time since 1934 and also races locally, at South Australian Sports Institute trials and at national level.
Notable members include 1908 Olympic rowing gold medallist Sir Collier Cudmore, 1984 Olympic eight bronze medallist Tim Willoughby, three-time Olympian Kate Slatter and three-time Olympian Jaime Fernandez. In 2024-25 the club won Rowing SA's men's premiership, while Nick Blackman shared men's SA Rower of the Year and Anja Felderhof was senior women's champion.
Upcoming competitions hosted by Adelaide University Boat Club
No upcoming competitions listed yet.
