The Championship Course The Championship Course The stretch of the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney in London, England is a well-established course for rowing races, most famously the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. It is often referred to as The Championship Course. The course is on the tidal reaches of the river often referred to as the Tideway. In 1845 it was agreed to stage the Boat Race (which had on five previous occasions been contested from Westminster Bridge to Putney) on a course from 'Putney Bridge to Mortlake Church tower'. The aim was to reduce the interference from heavy river traffic
Mortlake, Victoria his friend Major Thomas Henry Shadwell Clerke, and the nearby Hopkins River was named after Major John Paul Hopkins. The first white settlers to arrive in Mortlake were probably David Fisher and his party in 1839, who set up a station which was left under the charge of Thomas Anderson. Establishment of Mortlake as a settlement occurred in the 1850s and 1860s. The Post Office opened 2 February 1859. Many of the original bluestone buildings include those in the Shaw Street Bluestone Precinct, such as the former Mortlake courthouse and the former shire offices. The historic Mill (now privately owned)