Lake Colac Rowing Club - Colac | Australian Rowing Clubs | Row HQ

Lake Colac Rowing Club is based beside Lake Colac at Gellibrand Street in Colac. The club's surviving history is incomplete because its records were affected by two fires, the second in 1952.

Australian Rowing History records a Colac Rowing Club from about 1872 and says a breakaway Lake Colac Rowing Club was formed in 1877. The earlier organisation was absorbed into Lake Colac Rowing Club at about the time of the First World War.

The first recorded regatta at Colac was held on 1 March 1878, followed by another on 26 December that year. Early reports describe racing in gigs and outriggers, with crews visiting from Melbourne clubs.

The club's history names William Robertson as its first president. It also records Kevin Wickham, a club coxswain who steered the Australian men's eight at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

A memorial record for the club building says the first sod was turned on 2 June 1953. The building commemorates P. B. Borwick, a Lake Colac life member and former Colac mayor, and is recorded at Gellibrand Street, Colac 3250.