‘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.