Congratulations to St Margaret’s past parent Tony Elliot who is the recipient of a 2022 Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Award in recognition of his contribution to advancing the cause of the sport of rowing for young girls and women.
The Awards recognise Brisbane’s unsung heroes and pay tribute to those people in the community who have gone above and beyond to help improve the lives of others and make the Brisbane of tomorrow even better than the Brisbane of today.
At St Margaret’s, we owe so much to Tony for his establishment of rowing as a prominent sport within the framework of the school. Tony was also one of the founders of the Brisbane Schoolgirls’ Rowing Association (BRSA), a significant event on the sporting calendar culminating in the elite Head of the River rowing competition.
So successful is the rowing program at St Margaret’s that several alumni have represented Australia in the sport including Olympians Sally Kehoe (’03) and Maddie Edmunds (’09). St Margaret’s is also one of the most successful schools within the BRSA competition taking out six successive Head of the River wins between 2011 and 2016 and again in 2019.
In 2005, St Margaret’s Rowing Shed in Albion was named the ‘Tony Elliot Rowing Shed’ in honour of Tony’s contribution to rowing at St Margaret’s. He is still present at training and regattas each week and is committed to improving the program and winning more Head of the River titles.
We congratulate Tony on being the recipient of a Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Award this year – a well-deserved honour for his contribution to schoolgirl rowing in Brisbane.