Staying Power

After diving into the still, muddy water of Stoney Creek at Toronto in the early 1930s, Bill Walker usually took a lap or two to warm up. But when he did, Bill was hard to beat. Known for his staying power, the Newcastle Sun considered him ‘a swimmer of class with excellent prospects.’ Over the next two decades, Bill did not fail to impress. This 1936-7 Hyman Cup trophy, supplied for the Stoney Creek Swimming Club Senior Championship by Newcastle jeweller C. Hyman, was just one of dozens of trophies Bill won in his career. In swimming carnivals and meets at Toronto and around NSW, Bill was placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in over 50 events.

Tall and built to swim, William ‘Bill’ Walker (1913-1975) was born in Killingworth, West Wallsend. He was the son of a coal miner, also named William, and a great, great, great grandson of Yarramundi, chief of the Boorooberwongal clan of the Darug nation. When Bill was about six years old his family moved to Bolton Point, on Lake Macquarie’s waterfront. There, Bill attended Toronto Public School and learned to fish and swim.

In 1930 an area of the nearby popular swimming hole at Stoney Creek was roped off for use as a pool, and the Stoney Creek Amateur Swimming Club (SCASC) was established. The club hosted regular carnivals, meets, lessons, dances and card parties and built a clubhouse and a jetty as a diving platform. Bill was known to swim from Bolton Point to Toronto, then to hike up to the creek to compete in races. He was often a backmarker, meaning he gave his competitors a head start, waiting until they had reached the other side of the creek before he dived in. Usually, he won the race anyway.

Though Bill had the potential to attend the Empire and Olympic Games, a lack of funding for amateur swimming meant that he remained at work to support his family. Bill was also involved out of the water, serving as club captain, secretary and coach. Bill’s lifelong commitment to the club and his exceptional amateur swimming career is commemorated by the impressive lineup of championship trophies engraved with his name.