The history of lifeguarding in the Margaret River Region and essential tips for safe swimming at local beaches.
The coastline is the Australian veranda, both literally and figuratively.
Eighty-five per cent of our total population lives within an hour’s drive of the coast, so it’s no wonder the beach—and the people who keep us safe there—are icons of Australian culture.
Lifeguarding is originally Australian. It began in 1907, after the government removed a law prohibiting daylight bathing and a series of drownings followed. Consequently, volunteer groups of men were trained as lifesavers, forming Australia’s first official lifeguard clubs.
Today, lifeguarding has spread around the world. In Australia, it’s been immortalised through TV shows like Bondi Rescue, and while some Australian lifeguards are paid professionals, lifeguarding remains mostly voluntary in nature.
One of the Margaret River Region’s first lifeguards was Pete McDonald in Yallingup. Pete grew up in Perth’s City Beach, where he was a volunteer lifesaver and a keen surfer. After traveling the world surfing and picking up a few lifeguarding jobs along the way, he returned to Western Australia, building a house in Yallingup in the mid-70s.
By the 1990s, the once-quaint fishing and surfing town Yallingup had become a popular tourist destination, and with the influx of visitors came an increase in incidents down at the notoriously dangerous Rabbit Hill beach.
“There were families that would come down to the beach, and you know, fair enough, they don’t know the beach and the layout of it, so they’d go swimming just off the granny pool. There is a really bad rip that runs off of there, and as soon as they go off that bank, they’re getting taken straight out to sea,” says Pete.
“I remember one evening I was on the beach, and I’d just been for my swim, and I saw my eldest son waving to me from out the back. He was with an old fella, an English guy, who had seen his kids out there and gone for a swim and got dragged out. My son gave me his board, and I went and dragged him in. He was lucky, and he just said, ‘I didn’t realise what was happening to me.’”
Incidents became more frequent. Something needed to be done. With fellow Yallingup resident Dennis Cuthbert and Yallingup Residents Association president Laurie Sleuter, they lobbied the Busselton Shire for action.
“You know, things were starting to happen as far as tourism goes. You’re telling people to come to this beautiful beach, and suddenly, you know, they’re getting sucked out to sea and up the other end. It’s not a good policy,” says Pete.
The Busselton Shire provided paid lifeguards at Smiths Beach and Yallingup Beach for the duration of the peak holiday season. Pete and Dennis assisted the lifeguards in their inaugural seasons.
“Every year, they would borrow our buggy. We had that for any rescues or beach work, so they used that over the summer. Now they’ve got their own vehicles. It’s improved a lot over the years.”
Today, there are two kinds of lifeguards in the Margaret River Region: paid lifeguards and volunteer club members.
Founded in 2010, the Smiths Beach Surf Lifesaving Club is one of those volunteer lifeguard clubs. In the summer months, they run a Nipper lifeguard program, which is where all lifeguards generally begin, says former SBSLC president, Keith Warrick.
“It’s the quintessential Sunday morning, really—kids on the beach in their age groups, learning through sport. The sport is actually born out of techniques and the art of lifesaving: board racing, techniques, all those sorts of things,” he says.
“It was born out of the desire of the parent group in the local area to provide a platform to educate kids about the dangers and risks in the ocean. The parents knew the benefit to the kids and the community of having a surf club.”
After the Nippers program, some lifesavers go on to paid lifeguard positions with Surf Life Saving WA. Many continue to ply their trade around the world, like Will Dwyer. Will was previously Operations Supervisor for SLSWA and spent eight seasons patrolling the beaches around the City of Busselton.
He has also spent Northern Hemisphere summers working in England and Denmark and says Australian lifeguards are highly respected around the world.
“Shows like Bondi Rescue have helped create this perception of Australian lifeguards and a great respect and understanding of what we do,” Will says.
“It’s pretty cruisy most days, but you hold the responsibility of people’s lives in your hands, so you do need to constantly be on guard and on the lookout for danger.”
Will says natural hazards are the greatest risks around Margaret River beaches and warns beachgoers to be aware of the conditions and their own swimming abilities this summer.
He encouraged beachgoers to check the conditions with My Beach or download the free Beachsafe App before heading to the beach, and to swim between the red and yellow flags at patrolled beaches.
Regional (seasonally) patrolled beaches include Busselton Foreshore, Meelup, Bunker Bay, Gnarabup, Yallingup, Smiths Beach, and Margaret Rivermouth.
