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About the Club
The club is also a good family environment with members of all ages. Many nippers (6-13 yrs), cadets (13-16yrs) and seniors / bronze medallion holders (16 yrs +) make up the club, with individuals and whole families involved in many different aspects. As an important service to the community, all active members are involved in patrolling duties for a few days every season. This gives those involved in patrols a range of practical first aid, rescue and leadership skills. The club is well equipped, with an upstairs entertainment area and a gym. For information regarding the hiring of the clubhouse, contact us. The club is centrally located for members who live across Melbourne, especially those who work or go to school in the inner suburbs. Please contact us for more information about the club or membership, or fill out an application form.
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| History |
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South Melbourne Life Saving Club is the survivor of a long history of beach and swimming clubs on Albert Park Beach between the now filled in lagoon at Port Melbourne and Kerford Road Pier. The club was first formed as the South Melbourne Swimming Club at the Emerald Hill (later Tramway, then Stubb’s) Baths in November 1876. |
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A number of other clubs then followed with two more baths erected later, each a block apart, on the Albert Park foreshore. None of baths now remain.
The first open-water club, and clear immediate ancestor, was the South Melbourne Open Sea Bather’s Club formed on the 25th February 1913, with a small clubhouse at Foote Street, a block west of the existing clubrooms. The Club affiliated with the Royal Life Saving Society in the 1922/23 season, and changed its name to South Melbourne Life Saving and Swimming Club in 1927/28. Like many other clubs it succumbed during the Depression in 1934/35.
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The club remained dormant until it was reformed in August 1944 following the tragic drowning of two small children at the Albert Park Beach. The club moved to its present site at Withers Street in March 1957, and changed its name to the current South Melbourne Life Saving Club in September 1958. The clubhouse has, since that time, grown substantially through a series of extensions, to the current three-level building. There is a long history of drownings and rescues from the Albert Park Beach. The most famous was probably the loss of a young man in February 1876 after being attacked by a shark at the jetty where the club now stands. This incident involved a particularly daring rescue by a horseman who dragged the victim from the estimated four-metre-long shark. |
There have been many other drownings and rescues in the area, including three children drowning in the one incident in 1934 and two in 1944. It should be remembered that the area from Kerford Road to Foote Street was probably one of the most dangerous parts of the bay, with a relatively rough and uneven beach. The beach was heavily used, often at night, with many being poor or non-swimmers. In addition, the presence then of the docks, fishing vessels and the waste from the lagoon may well have attracted sharks.
Another famous incident at the club’s current site occurred in November 1926. The most recent of the baths on the foreshore, Stubb’s Gentlemens’ Baths was effectively cut in two when the steamship Malaita broke its moorings, crashed through and ran aground in the baths. Damage was so severe that the baths were subsequently removed, after the ship had lain there for nearly six months.
The club has progressively grown throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and early 21st century, and has developed a reputation as a strong club with many competitive and skilled members. South Melbourne Life Saving Club now has approximately 115 families represented as members. This includes over 70 active (patrolling) members and about 60 nippers.
| SMLSC |
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Postal: Phone: (03) 9699 9802
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| Quick Links |
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| Going to the Beach? | |
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| Current Patrol Roster | |
For privacy reasons, please email Patrol Supervisor for a copy of the current patrol roster.
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| Patrol Substitution Form | |
Click Here for a Patrol Substitution Form
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© 2005 - South Melbourne Life Saving Club |