Newsletter 17 February 2021
This is a historical record from the club's archive, kept at its original address. Details may no longer be current.
Previews the 2021 Queen of the Harbour race, held that weekend and a club institution since the inaugural Queen of Port Jackson race on 4 December 1926.
2021 QUEEN OF THE HARBOUR
The annual Queen of the Harbour race - an institution of the Sydney Flying Squadron since 1926, is on this weekend
The 2020 Queen of Harbour, Ombeline Even from THE MISTAKE, surrounded by the princesses from the rest of the fleet
On Saturday 4th December 1926, the Squaddie held the inaugural "Queen of Port Jackson" race. Prior to this, female involvement was mostly limited to working for the clubs ladies auxiliary or looking after the children while the men folk enjoyed their sport. Many clubs held a “ladies day” where each boat would carry a lady in the racing crew, most often being the wife or daughter of the boat owner.
The creation of the "Queen of the Port Jackson" race took involvement of the ladies to a new level!
Queen candidates were assigned to boats by a draw and the lady aboard the winning boat won the coveted title of "Queen of the Harbour"!
Reported in The Arrow on Friday October 1, 1926 and Friday 29th October, 1926, respectively, the announcement of the inaugural Queen of Port Jackson race by Vic Utick from Arline; and Stanley King, part owner of Avalon with Miss E. Bell, representing Bloomfield's Ltd.
WHO WILL BE THE QUEEN?
The "Queen of Port Jackson" race was a hugely successful charity event with funds raised by the Queen candidates and supported by local business houses.
The event went from strength to strength and for the 1929/1930 season, J.J Giltinan, the then Commodore of the SFS, changed the format naming it the "Queen of the Harbour".
The 1929 event under the new title "Queen of the Harbour" raised £5,140 for a new wing at the Royal Hospital for Women, Paddington. The following year £3,113 was raised for the Benevolent Society.
The race format was so popular, that in 1938, the 18 footer league in Double Bay, copied the SFS format naming theirs "Queen of the Waves".
Tablet unveiled by the President, J.J. Giltinan, at the Royal Hospital for Women, Paddington to commemorate the success of last season's Queen of the Harbour competition when £5,840 was raised.
The Queen of the Harbour continued to be a successful fundraiser throughout the following decades.
These days we continue the tradition of the great race at Sydney Flying Squadron in the Historic 18 ft skiffs. We will be awarding the ‘scratch’ title to the ‘Queen of the Harbour’ and the title, ‘Queen of Port Jackson’ to the ‘handicap’ winner.
Funds raised on Saturday from the sausage sizzle and raffles will be used by the social committee for the maintenance of the historical fleet.
Our thanks to all the volunteers who make racing possible.
THE FAMOUS SFS SPECTATOR FERRY
THE BEST VALUE HARBOUR CRUISE IN SYDNEY
BE PART OF HISTORY THIS WEEKEND
COME AND WATCH THE HISTORIC EVENT THAT IS "QUEEN OF THE HARBOUR" EXCLUSIVELY HOSTED BY THE SQUADDIE
Tickets available at the SFS website:
See you at the Squaddie!
All information in this newsletter has been collated from the publications Galloping Ghosts by Robin Elliott; A Century of Sydney's Flying Sailors by Margaret Molloy; the AHSSA website; as well as input from the legendary SFS club Historian, John "Steamer" Stanley along with information gathered by Club members including, but not limited to Leanne "Lois Lane" Gould, Barley Stewart, Coral Taylor and Kerrie Boyd
Sydney Flying Squadron
Australia’s oldest open boat sailing club
Our mailing address is: 76 McDougall St Kirribilli NSW 2061
This text was read from the scanned original below by optical character recognition. It has not yet been checked by a person, so it may carry mistakes, and any results tables in the original are not reproduced here. The scan is the authority.