Coogee Media

Wilhelmina (Mina) Wylie (1891-1984) got the short end of the straw when her father Henry Wylie set up a family aquatic act. Her role was to attempt to swim the length of a pool with hands and feet tied! That she was able to do it successfully, was a testament to her athletic prowess and probably helped her to become one of Australia's first female Olympians.

Mina was born on 27 June 1891 at North Sydney, the second of three children of Irish-born Henry Alexander Wylie, house painter, and wife Florence Ann. Henry Wylie was the Australasian distance-diving champion in 1896. Mina grew up in Coogee and attended Claremont College, Randwick, (See note 1) where newspaper reports described as being an outstanding swimmer even as a schoolgirl.

Swimming was always an important part of her life. Her father, Henry Wylie, built Wylie's Baths in 1907, which are perched on the southern cliff face at Coogee, but before then, in the late 1890s, Mina was part of her family's aquatic act.

de Aerial View of Wylies' Baths at Coogee, c1985

Mina set her first world record during the summer of 1910 when she swam the 100m freestyle in 1:15.8 at Rushcutters Bay Baths. She used the trudgen stroke then but changed to the "new" Australian crawl stroke the following year. (See note 2)

Mina Wylie and her friend Sarah "Fanny" Durack (1889 - 1956) were champion swimmers at a time when women were not allowed to swim in the Olympic Games. Many people at that time were aghast that women would be allowed to compete in public, let alone in front of audiences that included males. Women competitors were also expected to wear heavy woollen swimming costumes designed to hide the shape of their bodies, like wearing a sea anchor, as Mina Wylie described them. Wylie and Durack scandalised many in the sporting community by insisting on competing regardless of the audience, and wearing lighter, body hugging swimwear that reduced water drag. What mattered to them was performance, and it was the thrill of watching true champions compete that led large sections of the public to agree with them and demand that they be albe to compete openly and achieve their full potential.

Mina Wylie at Coogee, c1912	Mina Wylie Sculpture: Wylies' Bath by Eileen Slarke

Everything changed in 1912 when women were given permission to swim competitively at the upcoming 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The two swimmers spent eight months persuading both the Australian government and the Amateur Swimming Association to allow them to compete in Stockholm. Their lobbying was successful, although another block was placed in their way by the claim that there was only enough money to send the mail swimmers. So they had to raise the funds for their fares themselves and they had to provide a chaperone.

Like all the 26 athletes in the 1912 contingent, the two women did not compete as part of an Australian team, but for "Australasia", a country that has never existed! The team included New Zealanders, and they marched under a specially created flag. READ MORE here.

Once in the Swedish capital they discovered that the "pool" was built in part of Stockholm harbour and that the competitors swam without lane ropes.

The Australians made their mark: Mina took the silver medal in the women's 100m freestyle event while Fanny Durack took gold. The only other event open to the women was the 100 yards team relay. Wylie and Durack offered to swim two legs each in order to compete, but were rejected.

Wyle and Durack established the tradition of the Australian women being world-class champions.

World War I interrupted Mina Wylie's Olympic career, but she continued to dominate women's swimming in Australia. For 20 years she consecutively won at least one Australian national championship. Indeed, on three occasions (1911, 1922 and 1924) she won every event at the Australian national championships and set world records in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. By 1934 she had 115 titles to her credit.

Mina never married and once she finished competitive swimming she became a professional swimming teacher. By 1930 Mina Wylie was teaching as the professional coach at Pymble Ladies College and later at Rose Bay Convent school. We came across a 1956-era YouTube video of her doing a demonstration swim at the remarkable Mosman venue at Chalwin Castle on the 24th March 1957 for a fundraising event. Others there included Andrew "boy" Charlton, Frank Murphy and Murray Rose.

Mina Wylie, sometime in the 1970s, at the baths created by her father, but now renamed "Sunsetstrip Pool". On 5 November 1959 the lease for Wiley's Baths was transferred to Desmond Selby who renamed the baths "Sunsetstrip Pool" and proceeded to upgrade the facilities. They operated under this name until 1974, when storms and heavy seas damaged the baths which closed temporarily for repairs. When the pool reopened under community management in 1978, the "Wylies Baths" name had been restored. In 1994, Randwick City Council engaged architect Keith Cottier to begin a major restoration of the baths. Retaining the historical integrity and the spirit of the original facility was an important concern of the upgrade. In October 1996 a Wylie's Baths Trust was appointed to manage the refurbished Baths. Wylie's Baths has been classified by the National Trust of Australia.

Mina Wylie had a long association with Coogee and spent the rest of her life there. The Wylies lived Bayview Carr Street and in 1927 it was reported that she had just moved into her new home The Cabin at 13 Neptune Street, Coogee just across the road from Wylies Baths. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1975. She died on 6 July 1984 and is buried nearby at Randwick General Cemetery.