Drummoyne Sailing Club and its Centennial Year

by Lindsay Curtis & Frank Bonnitcha on 30 Apr 2008 The Drummoyne Sailing Club has a close historical connection with Sydney's Municipality of Drummoyne. The Club took its original name of ‘Drummoyne Park Sailing Club’ from the area on the north east tip of the peninsular.

In 1853 William Wright, a Merchant and Island Trader purchased an extensive area of land roughly bounded by the Parramatta River and what we now know as Victoria Rd. and Lyons Rd. He named the area, Drummoyne Park, after a place he knew in Scotland. Wright erected an elaborate stone mansion, Drummoyne House, and when the area was separated from the Municipality of Five Dock in 1890 it became the Borough of Drummoyne.

The site of the present Clubhouse is adjacent to Birkenhead Point. A parcel of land on the eastern tip of the Municipality was purchased in 1839 by William Dutton, who created brickworks there. By 1844 the property had changed hands and a `boiling down' works had been established by Charles Abercrombie.

By 1853 Abercrombie had expanded his holdings and attempted to develop it as the `Birkenhead Estate' but was not successful until after the completion of the Iron Cove Bridge in 1891. In 1899 Henry Perdriau established the Perdriau Rubber Factory on a large part of the waterfront site. Perdriau amalgamated with the Dunlop Rubber Company in 1928 and the site and buildings were purchased by D J'S Properties Ltd in 1977 that developed the area into the Birkenhead Point shopping complex.

With over 75% of the municipality in direct contact with the Parramatta River it was only natural that the early sporting activities in the area would become rowing and sailing. A combination of rowing and sailing would be model yachts closely followed by a rowing boat. A.M. (Arthur Mayfield) Merrington, a well known resident of Huntley’s Point, promoted sailing of models in the area immediately in front of his home in Huntley’s Point Road and fronting on to that part of Drummoyne known as Drummoyne Park (i.e. under the present arch bridge).

Although there were no club premises, the group adopted the name of Drummoyne Park Sailing Club. For numerical evidence a copy of the 7th Annual report of the Drummoyne Park Sailing Club dated 17th August 1920 exists. This confirms that the Club probably commenced operating in the latter half of 1913. Older club members were quite certain that although variety of small sailing craft existed, model yacht sailing was a popular pastime. There are early regatta programmes which confirm that models were often 'sailed' by the younger members of the family. Although there were several types of 'small boats with sails' this was well before there were sufficient numbers to be designated as 'classes'.

The next direct evidence of the sailing activities comes from newspaper cuttings of the day. From 1916 onwards results of races held list the class as '16ft Skiffs'. This class had been formed in 1901 by the Port Jackson Sailing Skiff Club based at Kirribilli and its numbers had flourished until 1914 when many of its members became servicemen. The Drummoyne Park Club became the beneficiary and the fleet of 16ft Skiffs rapidly expanded to the high 20's.

By 1924 the naming of areas within the municipality had changed and Drummoyne Park had ceased to be an entity. In 1924 the name of the club was formally changed to Drummoyne Sailing Club and remains so until this day.

Although the Club had conducted racing since 1913, for many years it carried out its administrative, social and sailing activities from various temporary abodes. Meetings were held at a number of venues including the Drummoyne School of Arts (now the Drummoyne Rugby Club), Miss Pointer’s premises, Turner's Milk Bar and Salton's Sail Loft (now the Drummoyne RSL Club). Social functions to raise the funds for running the sailing activities were held at theatres, dance halls, ballrooms and private homes with valuable assistance always coming from an energetic Ladies Social Committee. Races were held on the Parramatta River in the area bounded by Drummoyne, Balmain, Greenwich and Hunters Hill.

During the mid 1930's a concerted effort was made to have a site approved for the erection of a club house. The area selected as most likely to be approved was on the beach at Birkenhead Point between the Dunlop Perdriau Tyre factory and McKenzies Slipway and adjoining public parkland on St Georges Crescent. The necessary approaches were made to the Sydney Harbour Trust (Maritime Services Board/Waterways) and the Drummoyne Council and approval to erect a building was given in February 1936. Although others contributed toward getting this approval, the main driving force was Mr C G (George) Taunton.

As was often the case in those days, most of the effort involved in construction of the building came from within the Club, often with materials appearing from anonymous sources or donors. The first stage of the Clubhouse was a hardwood framed structure on brick piers with a sheathing of mahogany weatherboards (contrary to popular myth it was never `the old tin shed'). Brick work was provided by Messrs Bob and Bill Dodd, timber work by the Eastmure brothers (Stan and Herb) with George Tutt, Mick Bell and Jim Beattie well to the fore.

In the background was Club stalwart, George Taunton, leaving no stone unturned to obtain material at the lowest possible price. 'Hooky' Baxter was in the timber game and would always place an order for anything that was a little bit special. Vern Brown (President), Gordon [Backer] Robinson (Treasurer), Arthur Rodrick and S. O. [Hooky] Baxter were the first Club House Committee and provided most of the administrative effort. 'Working Bees' were the order of the day but the numbers weren't always as many as one would have liked to see. It was surprising how many more turned up if a five gallon keg was arranged for 'after'.

Funds were always in short supply, often awaiting the outcome of one of the Ladies Committee functions to pay for the required material. Debentures were floated and twelve members put in their 'fiver' and thus gave the building fund of £60 to keep things moving. Club records (the Minute Book) show that the year's expenditure on the building for 1937 was £58. By 1938 our stalwarts had erected a single-storied building measuring 30ft x 20ft with a 10ft boat ramp. Although meetings were mostly held elsewhere, the odd meeting was held under kerosene lamp light in the boatshed by moving boats out on to the ramp. Another feature of the early building was a four wheeled trolley on a railway track from the boatshed to the low water mark to assist with the heavy carry at low tide.

During the 1938/39 season, two major additions were carried out. A brick wall was erected which extended the back of the boat shed by 6ft and also provided a foundation for a 30ft x 15ft room which was built on top of the boat shed using the roof of the boatshed as a verandah. This gave the Club its own meeting place and the first meeting, chaired by Vern Brown, was held in the top section in April 1939, again with kerosene lamps. In the 1941/42 season another 6ft extension was added to the rear of the boatshed. This gave the sailors their showers (cold) and was in fact the last section of the Clubhouse to be built by voluntary labour.

By 1955 the club activities had developed sufficiently to apply for a liquor license, had an elected Management Committee and employed a Club Manager. The premises had been extended several times and the club finances were in a healthy position. However it was not until 1975 that a far-sighted Board of Directors arranged to purchase the adjacent block of land occupied by Hornibrook McKenzie for $360,000.

Several attempts had been made to re-develop the Clubhouse and transfer it to land owned by the Club. In 1989 considerable effort was put in by the Directors in conjunction with Paynter Dixon