Garie Beach

In 1838 it was declared illegal to swim at public Australian beaches during the day! Why?

cant find it anywhere on the internet :/

Public Comments

1. Source 1: Australia's first official surf lifesaving club - the first in the world - was founded at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, in 1906. There was little need for surf lifesaving clubs much before this time as it was illegal to swim in the surf during daylight hours before 1902. It was seen as immoral, and men and women could only 'bathe' in the early morning and late evening, and never at the same time! In September 1902 at Manly Beach, William Gocher openly defied the law and entered the water at midday. Despite being arrested, no charges were laid. From then on, the sport of 'surf bathing' quickly grew. Source 2: Before 1902 it was illegal to swim in the surf in daylight hours and many of the young Manly locals regarded this as wowserism. And so it was that William Gocher, Editor of The North Sydney and Manly News (later to evolve into today’s Manly Daily newspaper) decided to take a stand which would ultimately also boost circulation of his newspaper. William was not a confident swimmer so, as the legendary Arthur Lowe, foundation member of Manly Life Saving Club writes in his 1958 book Surfing, Surf Shooting and Surf Life Saving Pioneering, he was approached by to hide nearby in case he got into difficulties. William Gocher completed his daylight swim and was literally dragged off by the local constabulary. Nevertheless his stunt crystallised the issue in the minds of the wider public and the politicians reacted, changed the law and daylight swimming was permitted.