Sculling

It is important to note that in the late 1800's Sculling was one of the most popular sports in Australia, England and even in Canada. This Essay paints a picture of what it was like but the athletes were considered legendary and known throughout not only the nation but the world. So much detail is known about John McLean only because he was a famous sculler. Almost no information exists about him before 1888 when he started to get big in sculling and all info before this is only mentioned in detailed writeups about his sculling career and his life. Races on the Thames attracted record crowds of up to 10,000 people. Tugboats and steamers would be commissioned and allowed by the Legal Marine Authority to charge money and take people out on the River to watch the race. A lot of money was at stake with some scullers earning up to £6,000 in their career which is crazy money for their time.

When he was 18, John started rowing in some local competitions in Wardell. His first official race was March 17 1883 and he won. These first races were rowed in quite heavy rowboats (skiffs) while other big races were held in proper racing shells (outrigger type boats as pictured above with John McLean rowing - date unknown).

In 1888, at the age of 33, John’s friends and family convinced him that he was good enough, and after they pooled some money together, they sent him to Sydney to see Canadian sculler Edward 'Ned' Hanlan. Hanlan had lost 6 races out of his 300 career sculling races and held the World Championship title from 1880-1884 and was thusly considered legendary. John went straight up to Hanlan and asked him if he could train him and in return he would remember him if he ever won a big race. Hanlan agreed and within 18 months John was at world championship level and began to secure some heavy races.

Articles suggest as early as 1885 he began to row for money in a system¹ where a ‘backer’ would supply the money for the rower to challenge an opponent for a certain amount ie “McLean to row Davis for £100 a side”. This means McLean’s backer would put in £100, and if Davis accepted, his backers would put in £100 and the winner would take all the money. In most cases the winner would give the backer their money back and keep the rest. John had a number of backers including Mr R.A. Watson of the Paragon Hotel in Circular Quay, Frank Underwood of the Royal Surrey Hotel and Messrs John and Thomas Spencer. His paid races varied from £10-20 a side all the way up to £200 a side for the championship match and although it never eventuated O’Connor challenged him to a £500 a side match. Throughout his career, John raced and won against big names in sculling such as George Perkins¹², Christian Neilsen¹²(controversial match¹² resulting in lawsuit), Donald McDonald, Charles Stephenson, Neil Matterson, Peter Kemp and Jim Stanbury.

His biggest achievement was winning the Championship of the World. Big named scullers could challenge other scullers using the system mentioned for stakes. The other sculler could accept or deny the challenge depending on who else was challenging them or who challenged first. There was some confusion in the lead up to John’s championship match as the reigning world champ Henry Searle died of typhoid in 1889. So the Title was reverted to its previous owner Mr Peter Kemp. Therefore if someone were to row Kemp officially for the Championship and win, they would then become the new champion. John challenged Kemp for the title in May 1890 and lost. A Canadian Sculler named William O’Connor made a challenge also but it never came up (see article). John McLean beat Jim Stanbury in a match on November 1890 and this set him up to have a good enough reputation to be able to challenge Kemp for the title again. John was complaining as he had written letters to Kemp challenging him again but Kemp’s manager had denied him. See article for full details but eventually Kemp agreed on a match against John for the Championship in December 1890. At the time of challenging Kemp the 2nd time, John had won 22/31 single sculls races. They raced and John was the victor finishing in 22mins 13 seconds. See Article for full writeup. He was rowing on a boat named the "Lillie Bridge" made for him by master boatbuilder Joe Donnelly¹. In April 1891, Jim Stanbury (aged 23) challenged John (aged 35) for the title and Stanbury won, thus ending John’s championship reign. He was allowed a rematch 2 months later but lost that too which signaled the winding down of his sculling career. John McLean held the title of the Champion sculler of the world for 5 months.

Many of the races including the Championship Race were held on the Parramatta River over a distance of 3 miles and 2 furlongs (5234m).

The races themselves were very well attended with full steamers being allowed by the State Marine board to hold passengers and follow the race. Passage aboard the steamers would cost anywhere from 10 shillings to ‘half a crown’. For John’s championship race it was 10 and 20 shillings¹ depending on the boat and its location on the river. They were even charging 1 shilling for special Trams to take people from Sydney to the docks to watch the race.

When he won the championship, there were a number of banquets to celebrate his win. One was held on the evening of the 6th of January where anybody could attend and tickets were lowered to an affordable 10 shillings and 6 pence to attract any supportive followers. (12 pence in a shilling, and 20 shillings, or 240 pence, in a pound).

A banquet was held in Lismore during the day where 400 people attended. He was escorted in on the steamboat Tomki and people cheered for him and a band played in the street “Our Jack’s come home today”. The night of Jan 7th 1891 he had a private function where tickets cost £10 and 100 people attended. Toasts were made to him, to his health, to his trainers, to his backers, to the health of his opponents, and to the health of his wife . The Mayor spoke highly of him. His brother in Law C. Tyler was his trainer and spoke of him at the banquet also. The Full transcript of the evening is quite an interesting read.

At the banquet John was awarded a championship diamond and also a plaque from the Mayor of Lismore.