Barry Darke
NSW and
Australian freestyle champion
“When I was
swimming well I was single-minded – there was nothing else except me, the water
and the way I was moving. At times I felt like I could almost breathe under
water – it was euphoric.’
Barry Darke (born 1935) grew up on
Blaxcell Street, Granville, and from a young age came across to the pool to
play. Here Barry was noticed by local amateur coach Tom Penny, who offered to
teach Barry to swim, and later became his coach, continuing in that role until
Barry stopped competitive swimming. Within a month of learning to swim aged
seven, Barry was swimming a mile. Barry ‘simply loved to swim’, and with Tom
Penny’s help, became an extraordinarily successful swimmer at a young age.
In 1949 Barry won the State 440yd
Junior championship, and swam the best time ever recorded by an Australian under
14 years. In the 1949/50 season, Barry won one Australian, two NSW and eight
club championships, and became the youngest swimmer ever to win the NSW 880yd
Senior freestyle championship. Several State titles and records followed.
Barry was the
first Australian junior swimmer to swim 110yd in less than one minute. In one
sensational 1650yd swim at the 1951 State championships, Barry broke seven
Australian records. Former Olympian Fanny Durack called it ‘the greatest swim
Australia has ever seen.’ In the 1951 Australian championships in Melbourne,
Barry won the 1650yd and 880yd Senior and 440yd Junior titles. In 1952 many
considered Darke a world-class swimmer in his age group, but unfortunately
Barry, then aged only 15, did not attend the 1952 Helsinki Games on advice that
he should wait until 1956.
Images:
*1. Barry
Darke. The Australian Amateur, June 1951 [colour]
*2. Barry
Darke shakes hands with coach Tom Penny, 1951
*3. Barry
Darke, about 1949
*4. Telegrams,
including one from the Marshall family, congratulating Barry Darke on smashing
John Marshall’s record at the State championships, January 1951.
*5. Barry
Darke diving into the Yarra river, 1951.
*6. Barry
dives at a Legacy Swimming Carnival at North Sydney, watched by coach Tom Penny
(on right)
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