Marrickville community salutes a great Australian swimmer

Last Sunday I was asked if I would dress up as Fanny Durack and swim in the Cooks River.  I didn't mind the idea of being Fanny for an hour or two although the woolly swim suit she wore back in 1912 at the Stockholm Olympics was not very attractive. But the idea of swimming in the Cooks River did not appeal.

Fanny Durack image from the National Museum of Australia.

The request came from members of the Cooks River Valley Association, who are campaigning to clean up the inner-Sydney river.  One of their goals is to rehabilitate the polluted waterway so that at least one area is suitable for swimming. In 1916 Fanny Durack gave an exhibition of swimming in the river at the Illawarra Road bridge. Her display was part of a Venetian Carnival held to raise funds for the Australian New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). Dawn Fraser's coach Harry Gallagher also swam in the river, which he writes about in his autobiography, Memoir of a Fox.

Members of the Cooks River Valley Association and the Marrickville Heritage Society were out in force at a Marrickville Council picnic in honour of Fanny Durack in Petersham Park last Sunday. The gathering celebrated 100 years since the one-time Marrickville and Stanmore resident became the first Australian female to win an Olympic gold medal. She achieved the feat in the 110 yards freestyle at the 1912 Stockholm Games.  Fellow Australian Mina Wylie came second. Mina's father started the famous Wylie's Baths at Coogee.

Fanny Durack (left) with Mina Wylie. Image from Mitchell Library (State Library of NSW)

On the eve of the London Olympics Fanny would have been impressed with the turn-out of locals gathering near the pool named in her honour. There was a  great atmosphere at the event with photos and information on Fanny's life story, centenary gold medals, an old-style gramophone man, a sausage sizzle and games and activities for the young and young at heart.

And just back to that request to don the cossie of F. Durack and swim in the dirty old Cooks. Well, I wasn't needed till 2014 and there is one other candidate willing to take on the role. Stay tuned.

The pool in the park at Petersham

Life seems to slow down a pace or two when you enter Petersham Park Pool or rather, Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre, as it was renamed in 1999. Very popular with families with young children, the 48-year-old complex includes a 33-metre pool and a children's wading pool. No one swims particularly fast at this inner west pool but they enjoy diving in and doing a few leisurely laps.

The relaxed mood of the place reflects its location within the grounds of the 123-year-old Petersham Park and oval, where in 1926 18-year-old Don Bradman scored 110 in his first appearance in grade cricket. Some of the old-world charm of the park with its picket fence, bandstand and avenue of trees carries through to the pool. But the pool also has a touch of inner city grunge. On one side old camphor laurel trees overlook the pool; on the other side, the outlook is the backs of ageing terrace houses, one decorated in Buddhist flags.

If Sarah "Fanny" Durack was alive today Petersham Pool would have been her local. She lived up the hill from the pool in Douglas Street, Stanmore. It was her local connection, and that it was considered a scandal that no pool in Australia had been named after the first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming, that Marrickville Council renamed the pool in her honour.

As well as being a record-breaking swimmer, Fanny Durack was one of a number of early 20th century swimmers who developed the Australian crawl stroke, now known as freestyle. Fanny and team-mate Mina Wylie (of Wylie's Baths fame) almost didn't make it to the 1910 Stockholm Olympics as at that time swimming in NSW was strictly segregated. Rose Scott, President of the NSW Ladies Amateur Swimming Association (NSWLASA) said it was immodest for them to appear among men in attire so scant that they would be embarrassed to wear it in their own homes. Fortunately a public outcry and a change of heart among members of the NSWLASA allowed both Fanny and Mina to compete. When Fanny returned victorious from Stockholm she commented that, "the objections to members of both sexes swimming together exists only in this section of the earth, and is strained prudery".

A champion of women's rights, Fanny was at loggerheads with swimming officials at different times in her six-year swimming career in which she held 12 world records. After retiring from the sport in 1918 due to appendicitis, Fanny took up coaching. She would have been very at home at the pool in the park at Petersham. No doubt she could have taught the laid-back swimmers who frequent this pool a technique or two.

Plans are before Marrickville Council to upgrade Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre to replace the 33-metre pool with a 25-metre pool, add a 15-metre program pool, refurbish the foyer and changing rooms and add a new deck and cafe. Stayed tuned.

Wild waves at Wylies Baths

Visiting Coogee's Wylies Baths last week with three of my nieces, I was reminded of the 'marine biologist' episode of Seinfeld in which George Costanza proclaimed: "The sea was angry that day, my friends ... like an old man trying to send back soup to a deli."

Swimming in the turbulent waters of the 103-year-old pool was a bit like being in a washing machine. It was exciting and scary standing on the wall dividing the sea from the pool as powerful waves spilled over the top of us. Sometimes we were able to defy the force of nature and hang on to the poles. Other times the strength of the breakers would push us back into the safety of the pool. It wasn't an ideal day for swimming laps in the wild waters of the 55x35 foot pool. But the regulars weren't put off and continued their daily ritual of stroking through the swell.

Outside the water, the atmosphere was much more chilled with sunbakers stretched out on the hot concrete surrounding the baths. Others relaxed on the timber balconies above or found a shady spot under the stairs to read a book.

Henry Alexander Wylie, a champion underwater swimmer, established Wylies Baths in 1907. With the help of his two sons, he cut the pool out of the rock at the southern end of Coogee Bay. It was one of the first baths in Sydney to offer mixed bathing. Near the entrance to the baths is a sculpture of Henry Wylie's daughter, Mina who won a silver medal in swimming at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Mina's father and brothers were also good swimmers and were famous for their exhibitions of 'trick and fancy swimming' at Sydney swimming carnivals.

During the 1970s, 80s and early 90s regulars were concerned that a big sea would knock over the baths and its facilities if the council didn't undertake urgent major repairs to the complex. After a long campaign the baths were restored in 1994 and re-opened in 1995. Today they are a heritage-listed local icon. They attract lots of characters who swim and hang out at the pool all year round.