‘A Utilitarian Pursuit’: Swimming Education in Nineteenth-Century Australia and England

Abstract

This paper builds on two doctoral studies conducted as socio-historical analyses of the development of swimming in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Australia [Victoria] and England. Within each study the progress of swimming education was a particular focus and it is this aspect that will underpin the approach taken in this comparative analysis. The central purpose of the paper is to re-examine the historical findings from each study and to explore the similarities and differences in the rationale for swimming education, the availability and provision of swimming education in each location, and to present initial comparisons in the status and value placed on swimming during this period. This is a qualitative, historical study and data have been gathered from a variety of sources including government papers, curriculum and Board of Education documents, swimming governing body reports, newspaper articles and nineteenth-century texts and journals.

Notes

[1] Penny, Clarke, Quill, and Kinchin, Sport Education in Physical Education, 187.

[2] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/1, ‘The School Paper 1896–1898’, vol. III, no. 25, April 1898, 396.

[3] Gilks, Hints and Instruction on Swimming, Diving and Life Saving, 1.

[4] A swimming education could encompass a tremendous variety of activities, including learning to swim, competitive swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming, life-saving skills, personal survival skills, water safety and diving.

[5] The 1846 Baths and Wash-Houses Act was a permissive piece of legislation, which enabled those local authorities that wished to adopt the Act the opportunity to build baths. By the end of the nineteenth century in a survey compiled by Agnes Campbell [1918] and titled Report on the Public Baths and Wash-Houses in the United Kingdom, a majority of towns and cities had at least one public bathing establishment.

[6] Walvin, Beside the Seaside, 85.

[7] Light and Rockwell, ‘The Cultural Origins of Competitive Swimming in Australia’, 21.

[8] Ibid., 23.

[9] Ibid., 21.

[10] Phillips, Swimming Australia, 10.

[11] Ibid., 7.

[12] Upton, Splash!, 5. St Kilda and Port Melbourne are suburbs of Melbourne, located on Port Phillip Bay.

[13] Death by drowning remained high throughout the nineteenth century; for example, in 1878 there were 3,659 deaths in England and Wales, the highest in 20 years. In Victoria, a newspaper report from 1895 examined statistics from inquests held in the previous year, and stated that drowning was the leading cause of accidental death, and the third most popular method of suicide behind gunshot wounds and poisoning. Where this seems an unorthodox method of suicide, the author of the piece commented that drowning was actually below the average in this year. See ‘Melbourne's Inquests and Tragedies’, Weekly Times, 12 January 1895, 12.

[14] The Forster Education Act 1870 had extended elementary schooling to all children in England and Wales, but attendance was not compulsory until 1880 and only free from 1891, with the majority of children leaving at the minimum age of 12 years.

[15] Warren, ‘Sport, Youth and Gender in Britain 1880–1914’, 58.

[16] Ibid., 51

[17] Holt, Sport and the British, 139.

[18] McCrone, ‘Class Gender and English Women's Sport’, 161.

[19] Walsh and Spalding, Albert Park Primary School 1181, 5.

[20] Sweetman, Long and Smyth, A History of State Education in Victoria, 66.

[21] Holt, Sport and the British, 139.

[22] McCrone, ‘Class Gender and English Women's Sport’, 163.

[23] Ibid., 164.

[24] The first governing body for swimming the Association of Metropolitan Swimming Clubs (AMSC) was formed in 1869. Several name changes to the association took place until it became the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) in 1886.

[25] Fern, Wilson, and Wraith, The Promotion of Swimming, 1.

[26] Love, A Social History of Swimming in England, 101.

[27] Fern, Wilson, and Wraith, The Promotion of Swimming, 1.

[28] Keil and Wix, In the Swim, 24.

[29] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 234–8.

[30] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 2 January 1897, 18.

[31] Blake (ed.), Vision and Realisation, 991.

[32] Best, 50 Years and More, 19.

[33] Blake, Vision and Realisation, 991.

[34] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 22 January 1898, 192.

[35] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 13 February 1897, 316.

[36] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 22 January 1898, 192.

[37] Sinclair and Henry, Swimming, 377.

[38] Ibid., 377.

[39] The Municipal Journal, 15 April 1904, 304.

[40] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 242.

[41] ASA Handbook 1919, 174.

[42] ASA Report – Teaching of Swimming in Elementary Schools April 18th 1914, 16.

[43] ASA Handbook 1919:174.

[44] Sweetman, Long and Smyth, A History of State Education in Victoria, 139.

[45] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS892, Special Case Files 1862–1977, P0000/79, 1062, 93/9492, no title, 13 April 1893.

[46] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS892, Special Case Files 1862–1977, P0000/79, 1062, 90/56821, ‘Swimming’, 20 March 1890.

[47] Phillips, Swimming Australia, 62.

[48] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 19 January 1895, 115.

[49] Ibid., 699.

[50] Bannister, 7000 Brave Australians, 2.

[51] Ibid., 23–4.

[52] Ibid., 25.

[53] Priestley, South Melbourne: A History, 199.

[54] U'Ren and Turnbull, A History of Port Melbourne, 120.

[55] Morris, Middle Park School No. 2815, 25–6.

[56] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS892, Special Case Files 1862–1977, P0000/79, 1062, 90/19593, ‘Swimming’, 13 April 1893.

[57] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 8 January 1898, 76.

[58] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/1, ‘The School Paper 1896–1898’, vol. 1, no. 9, March 1898, 670–71.

[59] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 31 December 1898, 1486.

[60] ‘Swimming Match’, Brighton Leader, 8 April 1899: 2.

[61] ‘Overarm’, ‘Swimming’, Weekly Times, 7 April 1900, 18. Despite the rapid progress of the schools' movement, this objective was not fulfilled until 1910, when May Cox was appointed as the government organiser of swimming. See Sweetman, Long and Smyth, A History of State Education in Victoria, 139.

[62] Professional swimmers were predominately men (there were only a handful of female professionals) who earned their living from swimming – by competing in swimming races, undertaking special swimming feats, writing books and teaching swimming. They often titled themselves ‘professor’ of swimming.

[63] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 244.

[64] The Municipal Journal, 15 April 1904, 304.

[65] Land swimming drill was claimed to have introduced in England in 1876, from an adapted version of systems used by the French and German armies. Club swimmers initially ridiculed the method. Sinclair and Henry, The Badminton Library, 55–6.

[66] The Municipal Journal, 17 June 1904, 482.

[67] Sinclair and Henry, Swimming, 55.

[68] Swimming for Health, Exercise and Pleasure, 1906; by Experts, 10.

[69] Newman, Text Book of Land Swimming Drill, 10.

[70] Baxter, Swimming Instruction, 11.

[71] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/1, ‘The School Paper 1896–1898’, vol II, no. 15, September 1898, 765–768.

[72] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/1, ‘The School Paper 1896–1898’, vol II, no. 15, September 1898, 765–768.

[73] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS640: Central Inward Schools Correspondence 1878–1962, P0001/1134, 2815, 1900/3175, ‘Swimming’, 16 February 1900.

[74] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 23 December 1899, 1432.

[75] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 247.

[76] ASA Handbook 1904.

[77] Keil and Wix, In the Swim, 25.

[78] Ibid.

[79] Ibid.

[80] Swimming Magazine, October 1916, 115.

[81] Nottingham Swimming Club in 1894 claimed ‘the distinctive feature of its programme was the number of races set apart for juveniles’ and 8 Public Elementary Schools had entered the team Championship. Nottingham Daily, Sept. 1894, 7.

[82] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 241.

[83] ‘Swimming’, Sportsman, 8 April 1896, 6.

[84] For one example, see ‘Swimming’, Argus, 26 March 1895, 3. Two of the officials, J. Pearson and H. Heath, were champion swimmers and were also involved in VASA administration.

[85] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 15 February 1896, 307.

[86] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 5 February 1898, 303.

[87] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/1, ‘The School Paper 1896–1898’, vol. I, no. 10, April 1898, 687.

[88] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/1, ‘The School Paper 1896–1898’, vol. III, no. 25, April 1898, 397.

[89] ‘Overarm’, ‘Swimming’, Weekly Times, 31 December 1898, 26.

[90] Ibid.

[91] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/2, ‘The School Paper 1899’, vol. II, no. 19, February 1898, 192.

[92] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS796: Outwards Letter Books: Primary Schools 1868–1938, P0000/193/A1, 98/2907, 14 February 1898, 89.

[93] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS796: Outwards Letter Books: Primary Schools 1868–1938, P0000/193/A1, 98/3252, 16 February 1898, 90.

[94] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 11 February 1899, 303.

[95] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS15502: Student Magazines, 1896–2001, P0001/2, ‘The School Paper 1899’, vol. I, no. 7, April 1899, 396–399.

[96] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS794: Central Registered Correspondence Files 1873–1986, P0000/942, 99/21598, ‘Swimming’, 4 July 1899.

[97] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS794: Central Registered Correspondence Files 1873–1986, P0000/945, 99/31270, ‘Swimming’, 19 September 1899.

[98] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS794: Central Registered Correspondence Files 1873–1986, P0000/945, 99/31270, ‘Swimming’, 19 September 1899.

[99] Public Records Office of Victoria, Education Department, VPRS640: Central Inward Schools Correspondence 1878–1962, P0001/1134, 2815, 1900/3175, ‘Swimming’, 6 February 1900.

[100] ‘Unda’, ‘Swimming’, Australasian, 16 December 1899, 1364.