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Story: Rowing

Richard (Dick) Tonks

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Richard (Dick) Tonks

This cartoon of Dick Tonks with loudspeaker in hand suggests the determination that helped make him a great rowing coach. Tonks had won a silver medal in the coxless fours at the 1972 Munich Olympics and then turned to coaching. He made his name coaching Brenda Lawson and Philippa Baker to world championships, and then coached a succession of champions including Rob Waddell, the Evers-Swindell twins, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, and Mahé Drysdale. Tonks was New Zealand rowing's head coach from 2001 to 2013.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: DCDL-0023306

by Murray Webb

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

David Green, Rowing – International rowing, 1990s to 2017, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/41282/richard-dick-tonks (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Green, published 8 April 2013, updated 19 September 2016.