Rudder Grange Boathouse

(1904 – 1963)

The Rudder Grange Boathouse was located on the Yarra River at the end of Alphington Street, Alphington. Built in 1904 by the Cooke family, the boathouse was a popular destination on the Yarra River. The business prospered and in 1911, after one of the many floods, the original humble building was replaced by a substantial two storey building.
 
During the 1920s the Fairfield Canoe Club relocated close to Rudder Grange and canoeing became the ‘rage’. Steam vessels from Melbourne would ply the Yarra to Dight's Falls in Clifton Hill meeting with smaller vessels above the falls then going onto Rudder Grange. 

The Cook family sold the property to Carl Sierak in 1938 who scaled down operations from the boathouse.   After the Second World War Rudder Grange was sold again as it slowly slid into decay. Changing tastes in recreation had left the boathouse behind and in 1963 it finally closed. The buildings have since been demolished.

Lacey, Geoff (2004). Still glides the stream : the natural history of the Yarra from Heidelberg to Yarra Bend.  Melbourne : Australian Scholarly Publishing.

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