Star Story

In the autumn of 1980, Sue Palfreyman established the MLC Rowing Club. It was a significant moment, marking not just the beginning of a new sporting endeavour, but the start of a legacy that would transform schoolgirl rowing across Victoria. 

Sue Palfreyman was MLC's first Head of Rowing, a trailblazer who believed young women deserved the same competitive opportunities as their male counterparts. An international cox and renowned coach, she had vision well beyond the boundaries of MLC's campus.  

In 1984, MLC achieved something quite extraordinary – they won the APS Head of the River women's four, becoming the only non-APS school ever to claim victory in an APS rowing event.  

This win should’ve opened doors and created more opportunities for our girls, but instead, doors closed. Non-APS crews were no longer invited to participate, leaving talented female rowers with limited competitive opportunities. 

Sue Palfreyman saw an opportunity. Working alongside the Principal of Morongo, she initiated discussions that lead to the creation of the Head of the Schoolgirls' Regatta. What began as a setback became the foundation for what is now the largest regatta in the southern hemisphere. 

On 22 March 1985, despite challenging crosswinds at Lake Wendouree in Ballarat, MLC hosted the inaugural Head of the Schoolgirls' Regatta, bringing together 16 schools and 240 competitors across seven events. “The purpose of the regatta is to allow girls' crews from all schools to compete on an unrestricted basis and we anticipate that it will become the highlight of the Schoolgirls Rowing calendar." And indeed, it has, with MLC defining what the competitive landscape would look like for generations to come.   

Carolyn Brumley (1985), one of MLC’s winning rowers in 1985, recalls: “Rowing at that time for MLC was really exciting and full of energy. Of course, it was also a lot of hard work and training, but the work really paid off.” 

The Head of the Schoolgirls' Regatta now attracts more than 2500 competitors, making it truly the highlight of the schoolgirls' rowing calendar, just as that first program predicted. Sarah Mote (2007) recalls fondly how “exciting it was, to be part of something big. The door decorating, the cheering by the bridge, the loss of voice, the amount of sugar, running down as the 1st 8 went past.”  

Today, when MLC rowers train on the waters where their predecessors made history, they carry forward more than just technique and tradition – they carry the school spirit that refused to accept limitations and instead chose to create possibilities.