JETTY SWIM RECALL

(Published 22/12/10)

by Tim Carrier
Photo : Congratulations: Kerry Reeves receives an award from Sir Stewart Bovell

THE first official Busselton Jetty Swim was in held February 1996 however, this photo is proof of an even earlier swim relating to the jetty.

In the photo is 12- year-old Kerry Reeves (nee Peake), receiving an award for a swim that started and finished at the Busselton Jetty in the late 1950s.

“The swim was around 1956-58 from the main jetty, (which in those days was in line with Queen Street) across to the service jetty ‘railway jetty’ and then back through the main jetty along the beach to a raft a little way past the yacht club,” Kerry said. “We swam around the raft and came back to the service jetty, before finishing at the main jetty. The distance was approximately three miles and the juniors had about a 10 minute head start on the seniors. “The photo is of me receiving a trophy for coming first in the swim. Mr (Sir Stewart) Bovell, a leading figure in the community back then, gave out the trophies.

She said in those days the swim club was for all ages and used to train 12 months a year. “This is something my grandchildren find very hard to believe, although swimming through the seaweed in winter wasn’t much fun. “We never thought about sharks, although we would often see stingrays swimming underneath us and dolphins alongside. Kerry said the swimming club was a great success and participated in the life saving championships in Perth, which were held at the Crawley Baths on the Swan River.

“Two of the bestswimmers from Busselton in my day were Edwina Carmichael and Faye Dunn – they were brilliant,” she said. Kerry, who left Busselton for Perth when she was 17 and then moved east when she was 20, has been back several times.

“Busselton, as I remember it back then, was a beautiful little town. The main street and shops with their verandas and the old fish and chip shop down on the waterfront near the jetty. “Everything has changed now and the old-world charm has gone, but that’s progress for you,” she said. She hopes to return for the 2011 event and has been racking her brain to try and remember those who took part in this swim with her.

The current swim was the brain child of Max Higgins and was originally arranged as an event of the Busselton Triathlon Club, starting in February 1996. The inaugural swim attracted around 80 participants, mostly locals, and from humble beginnings has blossomed. In recent years the Jetty Swim has regularly attracted competitors from interstate and overseas and in 2007 attracted more than 1000 for the first time. And in 2010, 83.27 per cent of competitors in the event were from areas outside the Shire of Busselton. A record field of more than 1200 is expected for the 2011 event to be held on February 6.