This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Head of the River" Western Australia – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

TheHead of the River rowing regatta inWestern Australia is an annual rowing event held at theChampion Lakes Regatta Centre inChampion Lakes. There are two separate events. The boys regatta held in autumn, and the girls regatta held in winter.

The Head of the River regatta is the last rowing event of thePublic Schools Association (PSA) calendar. The boys regatta held in early autumn is contested between the seven PSA boys schools:Aquinas College,Christ Church Grammar School,Guildford Grammar School,Hale School,Scotch College,Trinity College, andWesley College.

The boys regatta for Head of the River was first held in 1899 betweenCBC Perth, The Church of England Grammar School (renamedGuildford Grammar School in 1906),The Alexander Scotch College (name shortened to Scotch College in 1908), and The High School (renamedHale School in 1929).

Originally, the race for Head of the River was held between coxed fours from each school and the winning crew was awarded the Challenge Cup. When the PSA formed in 1905 rowing was one of the five inaugural sports of the competition and the Challenge Cup was awarded as a PSA trophy. In 1938 the Challenge Cup changed to the current race format between the first coxed eights from each school. Over the years the number of rowing events increased. In 1982 the Hamer Cup was introduced and awarded annually to the school which scored the most points for placings in each event at the regatta.

The course has changed many times. The regatta was originally held on the Swan River. When Perth won the1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, the regatta moved to the 6 lane Canning River course. In 1969 the event returned to the wider course on the Swan River at the base of Kings Park near theNarrows Bridge. Since 2009 the event has been held at the purpose built rowing course at Champion Lakes, Kelmscott.^[1] Records have tumbled since the venue change with records set in 2009 and 2010. The current record time for the 2000m event is 5 minutes 48.2 seconds, set by Trinity College.^[1]

1st IV winners 1899-1937 & 1st VIII winners 1938–present

NB: † Denotes no race

• Aquinas includes seventeen wins by CBC Perth during 1899-1937.
• Guildford includes one win by The Church of England Grammar School during 1899-1905.
• Hale includes seven wins by The High School during 1899-1928.
• Scotch includes five wins by The Alexander Scotch College during 1899-1907.

Overall points

NB: † Denotes no racing

In the winter season several private Perth girls schools in theIndependent Girls Schools Sports Association (IGSSA) race for the title.

• Head of the River (Australia)
• Public Schools Association
• Independent Girls Schools Sports Association (Perth)

• Rowing Australia

• Rowing competitions in Australia
• Sports competitions in Western Australia
• Public Schools Association
• Recurring sporting events established in 1899
• Rowing in Western Australia
• Scholastic rowing in Australia
• 1899 establishments in Australia

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from June 2007
• All articles needing additional references