In Australia, we often talk about ourselves as “a nation of swimmers”. Surrounded by ocean, criss-crossed by rivers, with public pools and Olympic swimmers part of our iconography, it’s easy to think this is very much the case. But of course, the truth is much more complicated than that. Lots of people in Australia can’t swim, or lack water literacies or competencies. The last few summers have seen high numbers of drowning incidents, especially at beaches, which are stories that always hit me hard – people out for a wonderful day at the beach whose lives are changed forever.
There are lots of reasons why swimming rates are lower than we like to imagine including opportunities lost to the costs of lessons, entry and parking, the lack of amenity, or even discrimination based on ethnicity, dis/ability, sexuality, or gender. Each of these things can act alone or in compounding ways to exclude people from the many benefits and pleasures of swimming and of being in the water with friends, family, and the many critters who swim there.
This week, I had the chance to talk on ABC Radio National, ‘Life Matters‘. with Jacinta Parsons and Chris Baker (whose book, Swimming Sydney: A Tale of 52 Swims, is out soon) about the complexities of why it can be so difficult for some people to learn to swim, and why we should should do what we can to remove these barriers to accessing the joys of being immersed in water.
You can listen to the full interview on ABC Radio National, ‘Life Matters’.
