Swimming in and around Perth, Western Australia

Not suprisingly beach culture is an important aspect of life in Australia and children usually learn to swim "before they can walk".

Beach Swimming

Beach life lead to the surf lifesaving movement (which is both a sport and a community service), the surf ski and the surf boat. As a result Australian beaches are among the best guarded and patrolled in the world. All public beaches are patrolled by lifesavers who may either be volunteers (there are over 50,000 in Australia) or paid by the local council. They work each day during the Summer season and year round in some resorts.

When swimming off a protected beach it is very important to stick to the flagged ares patrolled by lifesavers. Protected beaches also have shark patrols, in Perth we have shark spotting planes that patrol the full length of the beaches between Fremantle and Yanchep.

Note that there are dangerous rips or riptide, undertows and shallow sandbanks off some beaches which claim a number of lives each year. If you get caught in a rip you should swim with it not against it.

On protected beaches efforts are made to keep surfers away from swimmers. on surfing beaches swimmers should stay in the swimming are which is normally between two red and yellow flags. They are placed to indicate the safest swimming area and have the most scrutiny from the lifesavers. |If you get into trouble and want to alert the lifesavers you should raise one arm in the air and not wave, just keep the arm straight upwards and you will be spotted.

You should clear the water straight away if an alarm sounds which may signal a shark or jellyfish swarm (luckily in Perth we don't have the deadly Box Jellyfish but you would need to be aware of the reason for this alarm elsewhere in Australia). Shark attacks are rare and on average only one Australian per year is killed by a shark.

Swimming Lessons & Clubs

Children learn to swim either at swimming lessons (any age from birth upwards but most is centred on preschool age ie 2-4 years) and at school in Australia and regularly swim in the school or local public pool. Adult lessons are also given at most pools.

Students are divided into classes according to both age and swimming ability and are taught the finer points of swimming by qualified coaches who are in the water with them throughout (there's none of this shouting from the side nonsense!) Students can obtain swimming certificates from junior, intermediate and senior through to lifesaving qualifications.

Private swimming clubs are everywhere in Australia and help produce the next generation of the Australian Olympic Swimming Team. Australians have an excellent record in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and World Swimming Championships.

The major organisations in teaching swimming are; State Swim Oceanic Waterbabies Arena Joondalup AquaZest Swim Schools Swim Australia

Private Pools

By law, all private pools in Australia must have pool fences higher than 1.5m and be inspected by your local council. The legislation was brought in to reduce drownings of children under 5 which was the largest cause of death in children of this age.