The Y Rowing Club began in the 1910-11 season, when YWCA Melbourne board member Mrs F.J. Cato encouraged the organisation to offer rowing to young women. The activity was formalised in 1920, the club bought its first racing shells in 1926 and joined the Victorian Ladies Rowing Association in 1927, with its original boathouse opening on Albert Park Lake in 1933. After a hiatus from 1950, the club was revived in 1965 as the Melbourne Ladies Rowing Club, later reverting to the YWCA Rowing Club name, and has operated from the Powerhouse building on the lake since 1996. Members voted to shorten the name to Y Rowing Club in 2002. Over its history the club has produced Australia's first women's Fours crew to compete at a World Championships, in 1975, helped pioneer Masters rowing for women in Australia, and was named Rowing Australia's National Club of the Year in 1999. Membership remains open only to women, though its Learn to Row courses and Come & Try days welcome participants of all genders. Programs cover recreational rowing for beginners and those returning to the sport, a competitive stream for racing crews, and corporate team-building sessions for groups. Sessions typically finish with coffee and a social catch-up, reflecting the club's emphasis on a supportive, sociable rowing environment on Albert Park Lake.