page_title: Women's swimming in Australia
section_title: 1800s
hierarchical_section_title: Women's swimming in Australia / History / 1800s
caption_attribution_description: Format: Film photonegative Notes: Find more detailed information about this photograph: acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/staff/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID... Search for more great images in the State Library's collections: acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/SimpleSearch.aspx From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales www.sl.nsw.gov.au
context_page_description: While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created. For swimming, the rapid expansion of facilities took place during the 1880s and the 1890s. Compared to the past when the whole of the swimming community was made up of males, currently 55 percent of the Australian swimming membership is made up of women. Not only do females dominate swimming in the pool but there are more than 5,500 female coaches in the swimming world in Australian and over 2,000 female technical officials.
context_section_description: During the middle part of the 1800s, swimming in Australia was segregated by sex.  The times and facilities allocated to women at existing swimming clubs were inferior to those of their male counterparts.  Australian women were forced by men to wear swim costumes that covered them up in order to prevent men from staring at them in a suggestive manner.
caption: Dawn Fraser and Ilsa Konrads at the Australian National Swimming Championships
exif: {}