Multicultural Women in Gippsland Dive Into Safety with Swimming Lessons
Swimming is not a rite of passage for most multicultural women living in Australia. While children born in Australia are likely to be exposed to swimming lessons as toddlers, and again throughout school, that is not the norm for women such as Tira Avery, who moved from Thailand to Australia almost a decade ago. After getting married, Ms Avery settled in Gippsland in eastern Victoria and soon realised a life in the country meant being around lots of water. "My husband loves to go camping near rivers," she said. "If I would like to join my husband [camping], it's better for me to know how to look after myself before help arrives if I happened to be drowning." In Victoria, people born overseas are five times more likely to drown than people born in the state. That was why Ms Avery signed up for multicultural women's swimming lessons at the Warragul Leisure Centre along with 19 other women from her multicultural frie...