The idea for the Newington Masters Rowing Club was inspired at the October 2004 Gold Challenge. After enjoying the days' events at Riverview, Adrian Holmes (ON ‘72), Andrew Hunt (ON ‘71) and Adrian Stewart (ON ’71) mused over an old boys rowing club which could row on a regular basis at the College boatshed.

A call was made to the College which was answered by Clive Woosnam, who suggested contacting John Johnson (ON ‘73). John was at that time President of the Newington College Rowing Association – the parents’ support group.

John proposed the concept to the then Rowing Director, Simon Pennington, who also liked the idea and offered his support. A meeting was arranged with the Headmaster, Mr. David Scott, and led by Tony Brown (ON ‘70). As a former Australian representative who was still heavily involved with Rowing NSW, Tony's support added considerable credibility to the proposal. The Headmaster (a masters rower himself) commented that part of his strategic goals was the re-engagement with the old boy network, and “you are doing this for me”. The Headmaster gave his consent and NMRC commenced rowing from the College boatshed in early 2005.

Initially rowing was on Sundays and as all Members were from the sweep oar era, new skills had to be acquired to row single, double and quad sculls.

To attract new members, the first "Back to the Boatshed" day was held in May 2005. A series of short races in VIII's were run, and fun was had by all. Sundays soon became Sunday plus a few weekday mornings and recreational rowing soon became training then racing.

Members had the opportunity to race at the Sydney International Rowing Centre – the Sydney Olympic course – a world class venue and a wonderful experience for those who were only ever exposed to river regattas on the Nepean and Parramatta rivers.

The Club’s first trip to SIRC was in November 2005 where we boated a quad consisting of Adrian Blessington (ON ’76), John Johnson, Andrew Hunt and Adrian Stewart. Unfortunately, our first foray was hampered by equipment problems but a row later in the day in a coxed four resulted in a credible 5th placing ahead of several experienced masters’ crews. The Club was off and rowing and welcomed warmly into the masters’ rowing community.

As regattas came and went, it became important for the Club to have its own fleet, to reduce our reliance on the College for shells to train and race in. In 2008, a double/ pair and quad/ four were purchased from UTS along with some single sculls from Newington.

In November 2008, the quad/ four was christened the "Brian Wherry" after a club member (ON ‘70) who passed away earlier that year. The ceremony was attended by Brian's family including his son, Mitchell, who rowed in the 2009 and 2010 1st VIIIs.

Often of a morning as the 1st VIII left the shed to commence training, Mitchell would touch his father’s name in a silent and moving tribute.

Regular attendance at regattas bu NMRC had become the norm, including the Australian National Masters’ Championships from 2007. The highlight was the World Masters Games in Sydney 2009 where Steve Schinagel (ON ‘73) and John Johnson won a silver medal and Howard Goodall (ON ‘77) and Adrian Blessington won bronze. A wonderful achievement for a club that never had more than a dozen or so active members. Over the years the Club has competed successfully at local, state and national regattas, and at one time were the State Champions in a coxed four in their age division at the State Sprint Championships.

A contingent of NMRC rowers also attended the World Masters in Torino Italy in 2013. The club had come a long way in a short time.

In addition to rowing, NMRC members regularly participated in the wider affairs of the Boatshed....facilitating the Christmas holiday training programme for the senior boys by offering supervision, fundraising events, coaching and providing personnel for the annual College regatta.

In mid-2016, after receiving a request to vacate the Newington Boatshed, the Club was at a defining moment, could it survive? A lifeline was extended by the Sydney Boys High School Rowing Master with an offer to accommodate the Club and its fleet at the Outterside Centre nearby at Abbotsford Point in exchange for the support we had always given the Newington program. The move meant the Club was still located at Abbotsford and rowing in familiar water. At that time we also acquired an VIII from the College, the "A J Rae", which gave us a full compliment of racing shells.

In September 2017, NMRC relocated from its temporary accommodations at the Outterside Centre to the UNSW Rowing Club at Huntleys Cove, Sydney. 

As we enter 2017 with the Club well into its second decade and having survived two relocations, we are confident that the history of NMRC is very much a work in progress.