Forty-one years ago, Tanya Potter became the first woman to achieve her Bronze Medallion at Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club.

Back then, Tanya was known as a Nipperette but examiners showed no favouritism in the sea – when it came to swimming, surfing and life saving, Tanya was just as good as the boys.

But she did have to prove it.

Since then, 237 women have gained their Bronze Medallion through the club. Today, the surf club has 99 active Bronze members, 33 of whom are women. Today, more than half the Nippers are girls. And no one is called a Nipperette.

On Sunday, January 31, the club is celebrating changing times with a special ‘40 Years of Women In Surf Life Saving’ event, with an all-women beach patrol followed by a luncheon.

To chronicle this landmark moment in sporting history, 2508 District News will run a three-part series on local women in life saving. First, meet the club’s original female Bronze holder, Tanya Potter. Next month, we’ll introduce two Stanwell Park mums, Liv Casben and Paula McLarnon, parents of young nippers inspired to take an active role. 

And in March, we’ll meet three teenage stars, Sabina Rogers, Madison Agnew and Kiara Manning, who have risen through the Nippers program to become state and Australian medallists. 

First woman to achieve her Bronze Medallion at Stanwell Park

Tanya Potter is Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club’s first female Bronze Medallion holder. A lifetime resident of Helensburgh and principal of Coledale Public School for the past nine years, Tanya grew up in the surf, but wasn’t allowed in the club until age 20 – when she carved a path for others to follow. Over the past 40 years, Tanya has been a life saver, a competitor and an instructor – there’s even an inflatable rescue boat (IRB) named after her.

This is her story.

I always wanted to be a Nipper. When I was a little girl, you’d watch the boys, they would come down from Helensburgh on the bus and they’d take them up to the beach, but we weren’t allowed.

So I never came down with my parents or anything; I was at Bulgo a lot of the time. I had two brothers, but they didn’t do Nippers, they were more footballers. But they surfed. 

I started surfing around Bulgo as a kid. All the boys would help you. Michelle Gilmore and I would always go out on the Midget Farrelly boards, the foam boards. 

Girls were never allowed in the surf club until I was in my first year at teachers college. And it wasn’t called Nippers, it was called Nipperettes. A terrible name.

A bunch of my friends, Michelle Gilmore, Anne Cook and I did it and we made the branch team. We won that. But there are no records of it. There were no digital cameras, hardly anyone took photos. I think we got a t-shirt out of it. But it was fabulous. That would have been 1979.

In 1980, they let females start doing their Bronze.

That was very different to today’s Bronze because we had to do it in the belt – the line and reel. 

You would swim out with the belt on and people would feed the line to you. Then when you secured your patient, you would have to hold on to them. And people on shore would drag you in by pulling your line. It was hard work, because you’d pick up all the seaweed on the way, also if it was big seas. 

It was hard yards, so not a lot of the girls decided to do it. 

The day I did my Bronze, it was here at Stanwell Park. And we were determined that we would make it. It was big seas – six-foot sets. 

I cried all the way to the cans. I had people beside me, egging me on, to keep me going, because it was a big sea. It was not easy. 

[Robert] ‘Bobo’ White was there and Bobo wouldn’t let anything happen to you, but he wanted to make sure I got it fair and square. There was no favouritism. We had to prove ourselves to a degree. 

I got my bronze.

Doors opened then.

I was at teachers college and I needed a second job, so I became a life saver at Sutherland Pool. 

I was put on trial as the first female life saver, when it was the old pool, not the indoor complex. 

I would start work at 4.30 in the morning, do my shift, then race off to teachers college in the afternoon and catch up with all my lectures. But it was good. 

It was just before my 20th birthday that I got my Bronze. I was the only girl, initially. The boys supported me, they didn’t knock me. 

Then more and more girls started to become involved [in the surf club]. So it was fun. 

The club was big into IRB racing. I was tiny then, so I was the patient – the men always left me out at the can though; the boat would break down or somebody would get injured … we went all around the state doing that.

Michelle Gilmore and I were great buddies – she actually got my pool job after I left to go teaching. They kept girls on. 

It opened up doors for girls in everything. 

You couldn’t even play soccer back in those days, you weren’t allowed. You couldn’t play rugby league – now, it’s so lovely that the girls can grow up doing anything they wish. 

I wouldn’t have been a teacher. I wanted to be a carpenter and I couldn’t be a carpenter because no one would take me on as an apprentice. So that’s why I had to just put my head down and studied.

If I had my way again I’d probably have turned out a lot different – I’d be a carpenter.

I went to Heathcote High and I was the only person from my school that went south to Wollongong – and I didn’t go to the university, I went to the Institute of Education in the foothills, which has now become part of the university.

All of a sudden, the girls just got on board. 

Everything changed, basically after the first lot of female Bronze holders. It’s always questionable who got their Bronze first, because it wasn’t a big thing then. We didn’t recognise it then. 

The biggest challenge was the strength that was needed in your swimming. Because back in those days you had to be able to drag that belt. 

So if you weren’t a strong swimmer, it was very difficult to do. It wasn’t dangerous, but you were wary … because the sea is a powerful thing and it can turn you around.  

It was never the men versus the ladies. I never, ever saw it as that. They just let us join in.

My husband, Paul, was with me all the time. We were going out since we were 16. So he was there when I was doing my Bronze and supporting us. And all the guys who I did it with, they’re still friends today.

Kevin Morton and Dave Anger – they were in my patrol. It was fun.  

Since I’ve got my bronze, I learned that way back, like in the ’40s, women were involved. So I wasn’t the first. Those women need to be recognised too.

It was during the war – they did more than just be Ladies Auxiliary. They were in the water, saving people. And, back in those days, they had to be covered up because they weren’t allowed to be seen on the beach in their costumes. So it was a lot harder for them. At least I could just wear a cossie. 

My favourite part of surf life saving?

The teamwork. 

When we went to masters, we were a little club competing against the big clubs – all pitching in, becoming a team, showing real team spirit.

Collection days were always fun, going around in groups collecting, and then celebrating afterwards with a sausage sandwich. 

The social aspect – it was nice just having a big family atmosphere. Having somewhere where you could bring the kids when they were tiny tots. 

I was an instructor as well. That was a nice feeling – to instruct people how to do the surf club procedures and learn new skills and then put those skill-sets into action when the beach was full of public members – wanting them to keep safe.  

When I become a principal, even leading up to becoming a principal, it was a struggle to find the time. So I had to devote my time to my job, and
my family. I had to give up patrols. 

It’s something I might come back to though. 

It’s not an easy beach.

Because it’s got currents and strong currents underneath. Some days it can be beautiful and pristine, but other days it can be dangerous. That’s also a challenge because you turn up to do training, and you’ve just got to do it.

There’s been tragic times, when people lost their lives in the lagoon, but not when I was on duty. 

I was more preventative. I would blow the whistle and get them to into the flags so they didn’t get caught in the rips. That was when people respected the life savers and I don’t believe it’s so that way all the time today.

There’s definitely, definitely more gear today. It’s loaded down there in the boat shed, you know, with rubber duckies (IRBs) and they’ve probably got a drone sitting around. Well, when I first started, we just had the belt. The girls are in more fitted clothing now. We would just have to wear the men’s gear; they have ladies shorts now.

I’ve lived in Helensburgh all my life.

The surf club has been a wonderful thing for my whole family. Raising my boys here as Nippers, in the family atmosphere, then as teenagers – there was always lots of people watching out for them. So they couldn’t get away with much. 

They have ended up wonderful adults – kind and generous and knowing the right values, so I’m very proud of that. And the surf club has helped with that.

Stanwell Park’s renowned for being family-orientated, a team-spirited place. 

It’s fantastic for the kids of today. And it was great back in those days, we’d have lots of social outings here at the surf club. We had balls – that was nice, the debutante’s ball. There was always something going on. And the friends that we’ve developed here are still our friends today.  

It’s not sexist at all and it never was sexist. It was more the hierarchy wouldn’t allow females. It wasn’t our particular club – our club was all for it. 

Now it’s good. There’s probably more girls down here at Nippers than boys in summer. 

It’s so wonderful now when you look and see the girls are involved in everything. 

Women In Surf Life Saving Luncheon

Date: 31 January 2021 

What: An all-female patrol from 9am-noon, followed by a special luncheon at the surf club. Any proficient women patrol members are invited to attend on the day.

Guest Speaker: Professor Ngiare Brown, a Yuin nation woman from the South Coast, a senior Aboriginal medical practitioner and one of Australia’s first Aboriginal doctors. 

Remember: Only swim at Patrolled Beaches and only swim between the “Red & Yellow Flags”! Stanwell Park Beach is patrolled from 9am-6pm daily by Council Lifeguards and Helensburgh-Stanwell Park SLSC Lifesavers.

Visit www.stanwellparksurfclub.com/web/

Read this cover story in January's 2508 District News magazine.