The day I swam across Lake George

We've walked out from the lower Weereewa Lookout at Gearys Gap to a part of the lake foreshore just beyond that thick copse of poplar trees prominent from the Federal Highway.

It was at this very spot to the raucous cheers of over 2000 spectators and the honking horns of 1000 cars, that on the afternoon of March 12, 1961, as a fit 17-year-old, Julia hauled her exhausted body out of the frigid water to become the first woman to successfully swim across Lake George.

In terms of marathon swims, the eight-kilometre crossing from Rocky Point on the eastern side of the lake may not seem overly onerous, but when you consider the challenges, it's no mean feat.

In fact, when Julia, at the time a member of the Goulburn Amateur Swimming Club, put forward the swim as a novel way to raise funds for the construction of a 50-metre pool in Goulburn, she was met with widespread opposition.

"Not everyone jumped at the idea of swimming across a stretch of water that had claimed the lives of 10 people in boating accidents in the previous five years," explains Julia. "The swim only got the final tick of approval due to the stringent safety preparations.

"These measures included trolling the lake with a brick dragging out the back of a powerboat to ensure the course wouldn't cross over any submerged fences high enough for us to be entangled in," recalls Julia. "Oh, and each swimmer needed to be accompanied by a support boat on the entire race."

Despite the military-precision planning, nothing prepared the small but strong field of six competitors for the blustery and unseasonably cold conditions that greeted them on race day.

"When I got up the weather wasn't too bad," recalls Julia. "But then the wind blew up so strong that the scheduled canoe race, part of the day's festivities, was cancelled."

But nothing was going to stop the swimmers, with each competitor employing their own unique tactic to combat the bone chilling cold. While some lathered themselves in axle grease, others in olive oil, Julia smeared herself in lanolin.

"A few days before the race my mum went to our family doctor and asked, what would keep me warm," says Julie. "Apparently the doctor replied, use lanolin, it keeps the sheep warm, so it should keep her warm.

"In fact, I may have been the first person in the world to use lanolin in a long-distance swimming race", remarks Julia. "Nowadays they all seem to."

But being lathered from head to toe in wool wax did have its drawbacks. "It felt greasy and because the water was brackish, some of the particles in the lake stuck to the lanolin, so I was a bit of a funny colour when I came out of the lake", she muses.

While big crowds gathered at the finishing line on the western side of the lake, the competitors were rowed to the starting point on the eastern side of the lake and by the time the starting gun was fired at 1.10pm, they were swimming into a stiff sou-wester.

It wasn't long before several contestants succumbed to the cold, (the water was reported to be only 10 degrees in places) and cramp, or both, but Julia's secret weapon of lanolin proved a wonder stroke, keeping her warm as she ploughed through the increasingly choppy waves, using a combination of freestyle and backstroke, for which she was club champion.

The chop was so bad that Julia had to regularly stop and ask her father who was in her support boat how she was going because, "the waves were so steep you couldn't see the far shore".

After more than three-and-a-half hours battling the chill and the chop, Julia emerged from the water at Gearys Gap, exhausted but claiming third place and in doing so became the first woman to swim across Lake George.

The lanolin must have worked a treat because despite being in the water an hour longer than winner Peter Bryant, also of Goulburn, she was in much better condition.

"When Peter staggered ashore he was blue, and had to be quickly wrapped in blankets and two dry tracksuits," she recalls. "He then did 60 push-ups in a desperate attempt to warm up."

Despite the challenging conditions, due to the bumper crowd and funds raised the event was hailed a success and repeated for two more years. Julia didn't compete in the third, choosing instead to join the commentary team perched atop Gearys Gap. "We followed the race through telescopes updating the crowd through loud halers", she recalls. "We could identify the swimmers via their support boats which carried different coloured flags."

Returning to Gearys Gap earlier this week, Julia reveals, "I feel the lake partly belongs to me. I just have an affinity with it, probably because I did the swim, I just feel like I belong to it."

For Julia, the ephemeral lake just doesn't seem right when it's dry. "After recent rain, I saw the water getting close to the edge and I thought, come on, keep going," she exclaims.

Although Julia still swims twice a week at the Goulburn pool (current COVID-19 closures excepted) she confesses it's unlikely she'll dip her big toe in a full Lake George again.

"Even if it refills one day soon, I think it's time for the younger generation to have a go," she muses.

Your akubra-clad columnist agrees. Perhaps this year which is the 200th anniversary of the lake being ''discovered'' and named by Europeans could be marked with another marathon swim.

If you are keen, send me your nominations. Oh, and pray for more rain.

CONTACT TIM: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick.

A bygone era: During the 1960s, the Goulburn Amateur Swimming Club employed an innovative way to transport members to swim meets around the Canberra region. "Whether we were going to Crookwell, Yass, Canberra or elsewhere, we'd pile into the back of Barry Cranston's sheep truck," reveals Julia Laybutt, quick to add, "He'd clean it out well and truly before all 30 of us would jump in."

To make the trip more comfortable Julia and her fellow swimmers sat on rugs and towels. Oh, and they'd also sing the entire way. "When we'd roll into Civic Pool in Canberra, singing our heads off, the pool manager would announce over the loud speaker to all and sundry, 'Aha, sounds like Goulburn has finally arrived'," she laughs.

Training: Prior to her 1961 crossing of Lake George, Julia had only swum the five-mile (8km) distance on one other occasion. "It was about a week before the race, I think it was 266 laps as we were in a 33-yard pool", recalls Julia. "As it took way longer than the normal morning training session I had to get special permission from Alby Ferguson, the pool manager, to stay there while he went across the road to have breakfast."

Backyard antics: Peter Bryant, the overall winner of the 1961 Lake George swim, practised his distance swimming in a tiny pool in his family's garage. Really. Julia remembers it well.

"It was basically a corrugated iron tank sitting on top of piles of bricks," recalls Julia. "As it was only a few metres long, Peter would swim in a harness." Peter even swam through Goulburn's freezing winters. "His dad would light fires under the tank to keep the water warm" reveals Julia, who was once invited to swim in the garage pool. "I wasn't really fussed about it," she says. "I like to go places when I'm swimming, not swim on the spot."

Did You Know? Peter was selected for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, but poor health prevented him from competing.

Clue: No struggle here

Degree of difficulty: Easy

Last week: Congratulations to first-time winner Ross Hiew of Forrest who was first to correctly identify the location of last week's photo as a model of Parliament House in a front garden on Cossington-Smith Crescent in North Lyneham.

"I moved into the suburb in 1989 and it was already there, so I would assume this front garden model celebrated the opening of new Parliament House in 1988," writes Ross who just beat his brother Daniel of Weetangera to this week's bragging rights. Ouch.

Unfortunately, the original builders of the model are no longer at the same address. Can anyone help track them down? Like Ross, I'd love to find out what inspired their quirky creation.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday April 4, 2020, wins bragging rights. Tickets to Dendy Cinemas will once again be given as a prize when the cinemas reopen.

On a recent (pre-COVID-19) trip to Bindara Station in outback NSW, I was struck by this ancient river red gum on the banks of the Darling River. According to Barb Arnold, current owner of Bindara Station, "Back in the 1880s, a shearer was receiving illicit mail, so he asked the riverboat captain if he wouldn't mind stopping to drop his mail in the hole in the tree so no one else could see it." Classic. I wonder if there are any historic mail trees in our own region, for contraband, or otherwise.

Mich Allen stopped abruptly in her tracks when she recently noticed this piece of fallen timber wedged between two granite boulders at Birrigai. "It looks like an old lady holding up her hand about to berate someone, either that, or a witch," she says. What a ripper.