History

The Melville Swimming Club is one of the oldest swimming clubs in Western Australia having been established at the Bicton Baths on the Swan River in 1926. The club was officially opened in 1928 by MLA John Curtin, who later went on to become the Prime Minister of Australia.

The original club room, of timber construction was erected in 1929 after a major carnival on a near-by reserve to raise funds. New more substantial club rooms were opened in 1935. The plans of these new club rooms show that the rooms ultimately became the ground floor of the existing Melville Water Polo Club.

In 1931 the Melville Amateur Sporting Association was formed and covered the sports of football, rugby, hockey, yachting and swimming.

Leading swimmers in the club’s first ten years included Eric King, Maimi Williams, Percy Bell and Glen Howden. In 1929 Glen won the first swim-through and in 1930, Maimi won the State 100yards freestyle event. Other prominent distance swimmers in the 30’s were Claude Steenholt and Reg Jones. Leading swimmers in the 1950s included Ron Leavy, Judy Jackson, Ron Day and Thelma Hawson.

In 1968 the club left the Bicton Baths and moved to the Applecross High School pool. In the 1970s the club moved to the newly opened Melville Pool. During the 1980s and 1990s Melville pool and the Kevin Duff Swim School (now operated by State Swim) in East Fremantle were used as the club’s summer and winter venues respectively. In 2000 the club moved into its current home in the new Melville Aquatic Fitness Centre.

Over the years several Olympians and other champions have come from Club’s ranks. The Olympians include Tom Hoad, David Neesham, John Ryan, Lyn McClements (now McKenzie), Lynne Watson (now Bates) and Andrew Taylor.

With respect to swimming, John Ryan won a bronze medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. In 1968 in Mexico , Lyn McClements was outstanding, bringing home a gold medal for the 100m butterfly. Lyn also won silver in the 4 x 100m medley relay team that included Lynne Watson. At the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1970 Lynne Watson was the star swimmer winning four gold medals in the 100m and 200m backstroke and the 4 x 100m freestyle and medley relays. Lynne also won silver in the 100m freestyle. Lynne attended seven Olympics as a competitor, sponsor representative and official. She has been a senior swimming administrator including Vice-President of Swimming Australia, Deputy Chef de Mission of the Australian Team at the Athens Olympics and Chief Operating Officer of the 2007 World Swimming Corporation. In 2005 Lynne was awarded the IOC Women and Sport trophy for her contribution to swimming. In 2003 Jeremy McClure was selected to represent Australia in the Pan American Disabled Games in Argentina and in 2004 he excelled at the Paralympics in Athens , reaching the final of the 100m backstroke.

In the sport of Water Polo, both David Neesham and Tom Hoad were selected to represent Australia at four Olympics. Tom’s exceptional talent for this sport and his development of Perth as a world class swimming and water polo international competition venue has seen him inducted into the WA Hall of Champions. This puts him in the company of a relatively small number of world class WA based athletes who have been instrumental in transforming the sporting landscape of the state. Both Tom and David have committed virtually a life-time to WA and National Water Polo.

Other notable swimmers who went to Nationals in the 70s to early 80’s included Jim Gerritzen, Carey Duff, Andrew Taylor, Mark Parr and Kathy Holiday. Andrew went on to represent Australia in the Water Polo team at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

Former members who have excelled at swimming or water polo in the last decade or so, include Marianne and Melanie Treagus, Harry Miller, Fiona and Casey Grieves (Open Water), Mark Finucane (Surf Lifesaving), Jasmine and Marina Malkowski, Stephanie Neesham (Water Polo) (Australian Rep), Claire Finucane (Water Polo) (Australian Rep) , Terase Finucane (Water Polo) , Michelle Finucane (Water Polo) and Katie Finucane (Water Polo) (Australian Rep). The solid representation of the Finucanes makes a statement of the family’s depth of talent and level of dedication to their chosen sport.

While the above is about club swimmers, much of the early support to these athletes was provided by the club itself with its incumbent opportunities. These club related opportunities are essentially created by the office bearers and coaches of the club. With respect to the latter some club coaches who have made important contributions to the club, include Bob Campbell, Merv Cowan, “Smokie” Woods, Len Bull, Bert Barrett, Doug Mulconray, Andrew Litster and more recently Marie Finucane. Professional coaches who have had a significant impact on the club include Kevin Duff and Bernie Mulroy. Kevin and Bernie while contributing greatly the strength of the club have also made major contributions to swimming to WA generally.

In the club’s over 80 year history, there has been a succession of outstanding volunteers who have given their energy and time to the betterment of the Club. These people (too many to mention here) have been instrumental in continuing to make the club a significant community asset for the development of youth within the region.

Besides giving the swimmers the opportunity of healthy competition, there has always been a strong family atmosphere and a range of activities to foster the social skills of the swimmers. While these activities have included film nights, after pennant barbeques, discos, amusement arcade nights and car rallies, the pinnacle of the social calendar is the Moore River Camp.

The Moore River Camp, which has been conducted since the mid 1970s, has seen scores of swimmers and parents spend three days at Guilderton relaxing and getting to know the same people who they may have only exchanged pleasantries with round the pool deck. Other obligatory activities of the camp are long brisk walks, the International Canoe Challenge, recreational canoeing (how much can we rock it before it tips over), the river swim through, the Charlie Favazzo Talent Quest, the Joker’s Circle, the Moore River Golf Challenge and having the odd ale and of course kitchen duties. Another key activity for parents at the camp is the in-depth discussions between parents at night, during which time political, national, parental and occupational problems are all solved; at least for a few hours anyway.

Moore River Camp has become an institution in its own right and epitomizes the strong community spirit woven into the fabric of the club. The continuing existence of this pivotal club event has essentially been due to the efforts of four Life Members Ray and Cheryl Mottram and Charlie and Shirley Favazzo. Since these people have been organising the Camp for over 25 years (1982 to present) the club owes them a great debt of gratitude for providing this special forum for relationship development and enhancement of the club community.

For a sporting club that has been operating for over 80 years, it goes without saying that many events and people would not have received either a mention or the recognition they deserve. Without exhaustive scanning of Minute books, it is quite possible that some of the details presented maybe a year or two out or be lacking accurate details.

The author sincerely apologises in advance for these undoubted omissions and/or errors and would be pleased to be notified via the Club Secretary, regarding appropriate corrections.

Last updated Wednesday, 18 June 2008 11:15 PM