Laurie Anderson | Rowing WA Award of Merit | 31st January 2023

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to this morning’s celebration in recognition of the significant contribution and service to rowing in Western Australia by the mercurial Laurie Anderson. There are not many people that have been a part of this sport over the last 55 years that would not know of or have heard of Laurie Anderson. Laurie was the second WA rowing identity I met when I moved to Perth in 2004, with Steve Saunders being the first!

Laurie commenced his rowing career at Aquinas College in the mid 1960’s where he stroked the 1st Eight for two years, winning PSA Head of the River on both occasions (1969 and 1970). Following this amazing school rowing career, Laurie went on to achieve the many accolades:

• In 1971 he stroked an eight from Western Australia which won the Junior Eights in the New Zealand Rowing Championships
• In 1972 he rowed in the WA Kings Cup crew on the Huon River in Tasmania, placing second
• On the back of this he stroked the second Olympic trials eight at Lake Kurwongbah in Queensland and was included in the preliminary squad for Munich Olympics at the tender age of only 19 years!
• Back on home waters that year he and 9 fellow oarsmen at Joondalup Rowing Club won both the Junior and Senior State Pennants
• In 1973, Laurie was elevated to stroke of the WA Kings Cup crew that went on to win the event at Murray Bridge, South Australia. 
  • [Now a small sidebar here from David Rose, winning Australia’s premier rowing event, and what’s more stroking the crew that did so, is a stellar achievement for anyone. With my home state of Queensland having only succeeding in that endeavour once, way back in 1939, I am truly in awe! And if you are keeping up… Laurie was only 20 years old when he did this!]  
• Unsurprisingly, in recognition of the Kings Cup win and his overall performance at the National Regatta that year, Laurie was awarded the WA Sports Star for the year in May 1973
• A year later, Laurie again stroked the Kings Cup crew, this time to third place, and was selected in the Australian Men’s Coxed Four (alongside fellow West Australians Gavin Jenner and George Xouris) to race in Lucerne, Switzerland. For this achievement Laurie was awarded the 1974 WA Oarsman of the Year.
• He went on to stroke the WA Kings Cup crew on two more occasions at Penrith in ’76 and on home waters at Canning in ’77. 

All in all, an intense decade of elite rowing in an era of great success for WA rowing. But this was only the beginning, with Laurie returning to the sport a decade later to give back as a coach, volunteer and employee.

This included at a State and National level:

• Volunteering at the Australian Rowing Championships in 1989
• Qualifying as a WA boat race official in 1990, and as an Australian Boat Race official the following year.
• Then, between 1991 and 2012, Laurie served as a boat race official at State, National and School regattas
• During the 1990’s he drove state trailers across the Nullarbor to and from National Regattas in the Eastern States on many occasions, drawing upon his long-distance truck driving experience.
• In 1999 Laurie reinvigourated the WA Sculling Academy, which he continued to run for some 15 plus years during which time he was responsible for introducing many hundreds of people to the sport of rowing.

Laurie encouraged his charges to join clubs and to continue their rowing careers. The people Laurie influenced varied from young novices to senior masters both male and female, including the likes of Rob Scott now President of Rowing Australia, who went on to win a silver Olympic medal for Australia.

Laurie’s kind nature and extraordinary skills as a coach were always appreciated by the participants. There was of course, also the occasional failure, myself amongst them ….and I can attest that Laurie has the patience of Job!

• I might add that the program continues to this day. 
• For his significant service to the sport Laurie was awarded the 2014 Rowing WA Volunteer of The Year
• From 2010 to 2019, Laurie was the Regatta Secretary for Rowing WA, attending almost every regatta rain, hail or shine to ensure results, substitutions and scratchings were conducted and awarded by the book and making sure that regattas in general ran smoothly. He was regularly the first to arrive and the last to leave the regattas.
• From 2010 to this day, Laurie has been the Registrar for Rowing WA, working tirelessly behind the scenes to set up regattas and support clubs with regatta entries. His ongoing support to the Rowing WA office is epic. Without Laurie, the sport during this period would not be in the positon that it is today.

It is fitting that we are holding today’s event at the ANA Rowing Club, for it was at this club that Laurie gravitated at the end of his high-performance rowing career with Joondalup Rowing Club in 1977, and where he continued to row for a number of seasons.  Laurie then coached at ANA for around 15 years and was still coaching up until a few years ago when his health prevented him from continuing. Laurie coached across all levels from elite to novice and masters.

He has served on the committee at ANA for twenty plus years in many positions including Club President, Club Captain and as a general committee member and has been awarded Life Membership of ANA.  As a measure of their gratitude, the current ANA committee, led by President Michelle Blake have been enthusiastic co-organisers of today’s tribute event at this wonderful new café at ANA … Thank you, Michelle. 

As though all of that was not enough, Laurie’s contribution and time somehow stretched further into the domain of school rowing coaching. Laurie coached across a wide spectrum of both boy’s schools and girl’s schools. At Christ Church Grammar School Laurie coached six 1st Eight crews and six 2nd Eights crews over twelve seasons, winning four 1st Eights and three 2nd Eights. A remarkable record. Laurie was equally at home with more junior crews coaching Christ Church’s year 10A crews in 2012 and 2013 and as year 9 head coach in 2014 and 2015.

As a parent and president of the rowing support group during some of this time, I can personally attest that Laurie was greatly respected by the boys and held in great esteem by the parents. 

On top of these amazing results at Christ Church he also coached at:

• St Hilda’s from 2000 to 2004
• Perth College from 2005 to 2010, and
• MLC in 2016 and 2017

Laurie’s involvement and service to the West Australian rowing community has spanned more than 50 years as a rower, coach, volunteer, committee member, official, secretary, registrar and employee. His dedication to the sport is nothing short of phenomenal. In speaking with Rowing WA CEO Daniel Tackenberg over the past few weeks, he recounts the countless hours behind the scenes that Laurie would put in at his home before and after every regatta, as well as attending every regatta of the season in person.

Many people will not see or understand the time and effort that Laurie put into ensuring that all clubs experienced a seamless entry process, enjoyed a good experience at regattas and saw accurate results post-regatta. This process started well before the season commenced and was relentless until well after State Championships. Let me acknowledge that none of this will have been possible without support on the home front… so thank you Carina, Louisa and Bonnie for sharing this great man with us. Laurie took on these responsibilities on top of his coaching and ANA responsibilities. He has truly lived and breathed the sport for decades.

So, Laurie, today is an opportunity for the WA rowing family to recognise your selfless dedication and to thank you for your long service. 

The Award of Merit was only created a few years ago to fill a void in recognition of services to rowing in Western Australia. Unlike Life Membership which recognises specific distinction in services to Rowing WA as an organisation by awarding a life of membership to the Association, the Award of Merit recognises specific and unique services within the wider rowing community in Western Australia. This Award has only been presented to two others to date, Terry Scook and more recently Pierre Pougnault. 

Today it is my great honour to induct Laurie Anderson into this unique club of selfless contributors to the sport of rowing in Western Australia. 

Please join with me in acknowledging Laurie’s lifetime of service and dedication to rowing.

Thank you.