Thursday, 19 March 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (09:58): A great day was had by all at the head of schoolgirls’ rowing on the Barwon last weekend. This fabulous all-girls event is the biggest female-only rowing event in the world, team – not just Victoria, not just Australia, but the world. Over 50 public and non-government schools competed and the winners were from small and large schools. It was a great privilege to address the event, where over 2000 girls competed and thousands of spectators lined the riverbank and watched and cheered very enthusiastically. It was an honour to hand out the medals to the winners, along with deputy mayor Cr Eddy Kontelj; Sarah Cook, the CEO of Rowing Australia, who is also a double Olympian; Deb Spring, the president of Rowing Victoria; and Adam Harrison, the CEO of Rowing Victoria. Ali Henricus did an amazing job as president of the schoolgirls’ rowing regatta committee, organising this extraordinary event with the 2000 competitors. It was also great to be joined by Alex Boyd, who is the president of Paddle Victoria, and they will be conducting their championships this weekend on the Barwon. I just want to say that Geelong is by far the best city to be hosting these events.