Isabel Letham made waves in Edwardian Australia, paving the way for women to win respect in the water.
She became a local hero and left school at 16 to work as a swimming instructor, saving enough money to pursue her goal of moving to California.
As historian Dr Anne Rees, postdoctoral research fellow at La Trobe University, explains:"This is the time when we start to see the emergence of the figure known as the modern woman or the modern girl, later known as the flapper in the 1920s".Having won the vote in 1902, women were looking for other barriers to tear down.
"Swimming and surfing is very bound up in these new horizons that [were] opening up for women in the early 20th century."Dr Rees argues that her"bold taking up of space" offers a counter-narrative to the iconic figure of the Anzac, which is more readily associated in Australian historical consciousness with this era.
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