History of Cardross Rowing Club 1947-52

Chapter 8 - The end

The club donated 425 pounds and the boatshed they had built on the edge of the lake to the Mildura Shire Council towards building a Scout Hall in Cardross and any other buildings thought necessary at the Cardross Recreation Reserve. The steel racks used by Cardross to store their boats were sent to Mildura for the use of Mildura Rowing Club.

In 1956, nearly 10 years after the formation of the Cardross Rowing Club there were again discussions about forming a club at Red Cliffs. Mr. Jim Simpson of the defunct Cardross Rowing Club gave his opinion that the distance to Cardross Lake of 7 miles and the distance to the river of 3 miles would probably make this very difficult. No club eventuated leaving Mildura Rowing Club as the sole surviving rowing club in the Sunraysia.

Sunraysia Daily, February 6, 1953. Page 3

About Cardross

This north-west area of the Red Cliffs Soldiers’ Settlement was one of the last allocation to be opened up. It was originally known as north-west Red Cliffs and then nick-named “New England.” There were objections to this so at a meeting of the whole district in April 1925 a new name was chosen from four names proposed- Cardross, Kenyon, Sundale and Sinai. A ballot was held and the name Cardross was selected. Many settlers were soldier settlers allocated blocks after serving their country in WW1.

In 1933, the Cardross community looked at establishing a permanent recreation reserve at the drainage basins formed by the irrigation scheme. An area of 11 acres near the town filled with water with rain and waterflows creating a lake for the first time. The Cardross Lakes are 15 kilometres from Mildura and were established as part of Australia’s first irrigation drainage scheme and relied on drainage inflow to sustain water levels in the lakes. In later years increased irrigation efficiencies such as pipeline meant decreased inflows to the lakes and increase salinity. Cardross Lake is now only a lake in name as insufficient inflows of water. The lakes are now termed a wetland and are managed by Lower Murray Water.

 In November 1934 the Sunraysia daily reported that the area of water at Cardross which was about 20 acres in extent and had become known as Cardross Lake. The lake was about 9 feet at the deepest part and had sloping sides with all stumps and holes levelled out before the basin filled. The Cardross Progress Association was responsible for the development of the lake and it quickly became popular as a swimming and picnicking spot with people from Mildura and Red Cliffs enjoying its charms. The lake became the venue for the Cardross Rowing Club in 1947. It was also the venue for Australia’s first registered inland Life Saving Club on account of its popularity with swimmers.

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