The Story of Fanny Durack and
Mina Wylie’s journey to the
1912 Stockholm Olympics
In 2020, our group (now dubbed Dangerous When Wet) received a grant from Waverley Council to write a show about our local swimming champions, Sarah (Fanny) Durack and Mina Wylie, the first women to ever compete (and win Gold and Silver) in a women’s swimming event at the Olympics.
We hope to perform our show in 2021 and beyond. First stop Wylie’s Baths and Clovelly Probus!
Writers/Performers
Our group includes Merran Hughes (who took this photo) and from left to right, Eliane Morel, Soledad Cordeaux and Vashti Hughes.
At Bronte Baths
Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie swam at Bronte Pool regularly, as Henry Wylie also managed this pool at one point in his career, before taking over what are now known as Wylie’s Baths.
At Wylie’s Baths
Soledad Cordeaux and Vashti Hughes hamming it up as Mina Wylie and Fanny Durack, with Wylie’s Baths (originally owned by Mina’s Dad, Henry), in the background
“Now the girls are telling us, their swimming clothes constrict ‘em,
Well, that has never bothered us, for we’re against the dictum
that Clothes maketh the man, yes let me tell you buddy
We’ve been swimming centuries completely in the nuddy!“
A fictitious man from the Victorian era
Eliane Morel 