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Linden Chuang
Public relations editorial assistant

The epic voyage of Robert and Henry McMahon has finished at Avondale College almost 100 years after the brothers began rowing their boat from Gippsland, Victoria.

Henry's son, Don, rowed a replica of the five-metre The Advent up Dora Creek to the Swing Bridge for a family reunion this past Friday (October 2). The re-enactment symbolically finished a journey Robert and Henry began from the then Cunninghame-now Lakes Entrance-on June 25, 1914. The journey, which ended in Sydney, lasted 12 days and covered 700 nautical kilometres.

Brothers Drs Darren and Jason Morton, lecturers at Avondale, rowed another replica, called The Second Advent, on Lake Macquarie this past Sunday (September 27) as part of the re-enactment. "When we first heard the story, we were captivated by it," says Darren, a senior lecturer in health and exercise science in the Faculty of Education. "Essentially, almost 100 years on, a couple of staff members, who just happen to be brothers, are helping a couple of students, who also happen to be brothers, finish their journey."

The McMahon brothers, aged in the 20s at the time, intended to row their hand-built boat to Avondale-they were transporting books as part of their studies at the then Australasian Missionary College. However, time restraints forced them to cut their journey short. They endured severe weather including a strong south-westerly gale, large breakers and four-metre waves that pushed them onto a rocky reef at Bateman's Bay. Strong currents forced the brothers to row for 32 hours straight at one point. A Japanese cargo ship, thinking the McMahons were castaways, also tried to "rescue" them. However, the two never went hungry, crediting their mother's pies for sustaining them. "My father and uncle were tip-top physical specimens," says Don. "My father was in the army, so some of the training he'd received probably helped."

Henry's resignation from the army one month before the row provided most of his motivation. "He wanted to show he was still a man and not a milksop," says Don. However, he also believed strongly in the value of education. "He turned his back on poverty and left home at the age of 14 to go to school," says Don. "If he felt he wasn't learning at school, he would wag so he could go read something else."

Henry, who contemplated a life of faith before beginning the journey, saw the row as much a spiritual as a physical journey. He and Robert learned of the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand during a break at a lighthouse. The assassination triggered the start of World War I. At that moment, Henry realised "it was a God-given thing to give up the army and go to Avondale," says Don.

Caption: Brothers Drs Darren and Jason Morton row a replica of The Advent on Lake Macquarie this past Sunday (September 27) as part of the re-enactment of Robert and Henry McMahon's epic voyage from Gippsland, Victoria, to Sydney.
Credit: Ann Stafford