D A (Beef) Calder
Mercantile Rowing Club (VIC)
Beef Calder was a senior oarsman of Mercantile pre WWII. He maintained his interest in the sport long after returning from service overseas in the Artillery in the war. He was a noted Victorian boat race official.
Commencing his rowing at Melbourne Grammar School, he made a seamless transition to the boathouse next door to Mercantile.
Calder served in WWII in the Artillery and had the interesting experience of racing in the Palestine Championships. The stroke of that crew wrote home of the event as follows:
“November, 1941, found us back in the promised land after spending eight months in the desert of which seven were spent in Tobruk. Sport was the order of the day, so units had their teams of various sports going in full swing, but it was not until a week or so before November 22nd, 1941, that the oarsmen learnt that there was to be an eight oar race for the Palestine Championships. This meant hurried preparation to find which oarsmen were available for selection, the final crew chosen to represent Artillery was as follows: R. Evans 11.4 Mosman (bow), M. Hagar 11.0 Derwent Tas (2), R. Semple 13.0 Preston Vic (3), C. Murray 12.0 Sydney (4), A. Calder 14.7 Mercantile Vic (5) (he had rowed against Haberfield in the 1938 Grant Challenge Cup final at Henley and the 1939 King’s Cup), R. White 13.7 Tamar Tas (6), F. Allard 14.0 Derwent Tas 97), Vic Mossong 13.0 Haberfield (stroke).
“A large crowd turned out to see the regatta, which was held on the Yarkon River, Tel-a-viv. The heats were rowed in the morning and the results were as follows: Hapoel Rowing Club won from the Palestine Police Rowing Club, while in the second heat Australian Artillery won from Australian Infantry. The finals were rowed in the afternoon. The boats were of clinker type, as generally used for practice in Australia. It was here in the finals that we of the Artillery had some fun.
“Having lost the toss for boats, we had to take the heavier one, but we had the choice of positions. The boat had to be made lighter somehow. It having heavy floor boards we decided to discard with same but the caretaker of the club, in broken English, tried to tell us that we had to row with them in, and we said, “Oh, no we don’t.” Out they came and put they did come to make the boat some 50 lbs. lighter.
“The start of the race was by the dropping of a flag by the starter. About 50 yards after the start we led by nearly a length and were going well. At the half way mark, we still had that lengths lead, and here our rivals challenged us. I allowed them to draw up until we only had about a quarter of a length lead from them. Then I called on the boys and we went away again to nearly a length. Just near the finish, they came at us again, and try as we might to stave them off we could not, as our condition was giving out, and we went under by three quarters of s length. I am sure that if our crew could have had some training Hapoal would not have seen which way we went, as they had four month’s training compared with our one week’s. “
Calder rowing five in the winning 1938 Grand Challenge Cup at Australian Henley defeating Haberfield RC
Known racing record
1931 - APS Head of the River, Third VIII, five seat - Second
1938 - VRA Regatta, Senior Eight, five seat - First
1938 - Australian Henley, Grand Challenge Cup, five seat - First
1938 (Dec) - Victorian Championship Four, three seat - Second
1939 - Upper Yarra Regatta, Senior Eight, five seat - First
1939 - Barwon Regatta, Senior Eight, five seat - First
1939 - Ballarat Regatta, Senior Eight, five seat - First
1939 - Victorian Championships, Senior Eight, five seat - Second
1939 - Interstate Championships, King's Cup, five seat - Disqualified
1941 - Palestine Championships (racing for A.I.F. Artillery), five seat - Second
1956 - Olympic Games, Rowing Organising Committee Member
1957 - APS Head of the River, starter
Andrew Guerin
August 2024
Sources
- This website and author's own records including RV and Mercantile annual reports
- Haberfield Rowing Club, the first 25 years by Kevyn Webb, self published in 1950