Latest acquisitions list from Douglas Stewart Fine Books, Melbourne , includes a postcard , priced at $2400, sent by Australian swimmer Fanny Durack in 1912 while in training in a filthy pond for the Stockholm Olympic Games ..
A remarkable item of correspondence written by Fanny Durack in London while preparing for the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. It is addressed to her elder sister Kathleen, care of their father Thomas Durack’s pub, which stood on the corner of Elizabeth and Campbell Streets, Sydney. The champion swimmer sends her sister a postcard with a picture and description of her dismal London training facility – a freezing and filthy pond in Highgate. She writes:
‘Dear Kathleen,
This is the pond I have got to practice at. It is extraordinary [sic] cold and dirty. I can only get three swims a week here. Love to all, “Fanny”.’
It is well documented that in her quest to compete at Stockholm in 1912 – the first Olympics to stage a women’s swimming event – Fanny Durack was forced to contend with sexism and class prejudice at every turn. This previously unpublished postcard illuminates yet another obstacle that this Australian champion had to overcome on the way to achieving Olympic glory and everlasting fame in Stockholm.
From the National Library Australia website:
‘One of the most significant events at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics was the admission of women into the Olympic swimming competition. This change increased the overall number of female competitors in the Olympic Games to 48 (compared to 2,359 males).
Australia’s two female entrants, Sarah Frances (Fanny) Durack (1889‒1956) and Wilhelmina (Mina) Wylie (1891‒1984) made history when they won, respectively, the gold and silver Olympic medals in the 100 metres freestyle event. (Their Stockholm success came despite both women initially struggling for team selection in Australia due to opposition to their inclusion.)
Durack was the first female gold medallist in the history of Olympic swimming and, at one point in her swimming career, she held every world freestyle record from 100 yards to one mile. The gold medal won by Fanny Durack, now held in the collection of the National Library of Australia, is pure gold. It was presented to the Library by Durack’s brother, Frank Clement Durack.’
