Special Event: Why Aussies Love Swimming

Join us for the first of 2 panel talks about why Australians love swimming. Going to the beach or the local pool is synonymous with an Aussie summer. They are the places of imagination,daring,belonging, freedom, friendship and romance - or hard-core swimming training.

Here we will hear from 2 Aussie authors who love swimming and what it means for them.

Therese Spruhan loves swimming pools. After writing for her blog Swimming Pool Stories, she knew she wanted to create a book based on this theme. The result is The Memory Pool, a collection of 28 stories from a diverse range of Australians including Bryan Brown, Leah Purcell, Merrick Watts, Shane Gould and Trent Dalton – as well as stories from less-famous Australians.

Therese Spruhan is a Sydney-based swimmer, writer and photographer with a passion for telling stories and capturing images of Australia’s pools. She writes about pools and swimmers on her popular blog Swimming Pool Stories and about places to swim in travel articles for The Weekend Australian. In 2016 she was a contributor to the book, The Pool: Architecture, Culture and Identity in Australia, and to the broadsheet, From the Edge, which accompanied Australia's exhibition, The Pool at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Chris Baker is a lifelong swimmer, educator and writer. He was born and raised in Sydney. He has spent much of his professional life overseas, living and working in Vancouver, Prague, Hong Kong and Berlin. Chris was lured back to Sydney by its beautiful beaches, superb municipal pools, wild swimming holes and world-famous ocean baths.

Chris’ work has been published by the Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Australian, The Guardian Australia, Time Out, SBS Online and Vogue Australia.

His book Swimming Sydney is a tale of 52 swims in and around Sydney that take place over a calendar year. Chris swims at iconic beaches,municipal pools, harbour baths, tidal rock pools, bushland lakes and a backyard pool.

Tickets: $10 / Free for Museum Members- Enter your promo code at checkout.

Copies of Therese and Chris' books will be available for purchase and signing.

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Host or Publisher Australian National Maritime Museum - Events