≡ Menu for this Section

Australians at 1966 Henley Royal Regatta

The four training in Melbourne
This crew took to Europe without coach or manager and travelled around the regattas on offer. They were literally living in the back of a van. At Henley Royal, they were defeated in the semi-final by Derby Rowing Club. The Mercantile centennial history recorded as follows. Meanwhile, Garrard, Palfreyman and Philp, senior oarsmen who had missed selection in the Australian eight, formed themselves into a coxless four, won the Australian title, and gained Australian representation. With experience gained from racing at Royal Henley Regatta in England, and at Copenhagen, they developed into an extremely fast crew, and were unlucky to be eliminated in the repechage in a photo-finish [at the World Championships]. David Palfreyman described the winning margin as a bee's dick, an expression which has now become proverbial.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:



Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
These contents of this history are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. However given that the purpose of the history is to assist rowers and rowing clubs, written permission is not required for non-commercial usage by rowers and rowing clubs provided acknowledgement is made.

Disclaimer: Whilst extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied, the editors take no responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from inaccuracies contained in this work.