A small part of history from the Hobart Regatta in Australia, a gold watch, has been recreated to mark a century of competition, just one of the beautiful antique pocket watches from yesteryear.
85-year-old Jean Freeman is the proud owner of one of her father’s most prized possessions in the pocket watch and this particular timepiece is a significant Hobart heirloom of the Hobart Regatta.
An inscription on the watch reads: “Hobart Regatta 1915, Alexandra Sculls won by N. L. Hopkins”.
Mrs Freeman’s father, Norman Lindsay Hopkins, won the gold pocket watch for amateur rowers when he competed at the 1915 regatta.
Only a few days after winning the race, he enlisted in the Australian Army and took part in the second landing at Gallipoli.
Mrs Freeman received the watch when her father died and has treasured it ever since.
A replica was created for the winner of this year’s anniversary race of the inaugural Alexandra Sculls Centenary single scull.
Mrs Freeman was on hand with three generations of her family to view the replica as a local jeweller handed it over to 16-year-old Edward Johnstone, the winner of the centenary event.
The original pocket watch is set to return to Tasmania from NSW as Mrs Freeman has passed on the family treasure to her son David who plans to move to Tasmania soon from Perth.
For now, the golden pocket watch is still ticking along just fine and dandy.
Image: Jeffrey Smith under creative commons.
