Wilhelmina Wylie (1891 - 1984)

Ancestors

Biography

Mina Wylie was one of Australia's first two female Olympic swimming representatives, along with friend Fanny Durack, at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics (the first to admit women swimmers).

Mina was also important in promoting women's swimming, having – along with Rose McIver – formed the Randwick Coogee Ladies Amateur Swimming Club, which has managed the Women's Baths just north of Wylie's since 1922.

Life Events

Wilhelmina "Mina" Wylie was born on the 27th June 1891, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, the only known daughter of Irish-born Henry Alexander Wylie and his Queensland-born wife Florence Ann Beers.^[1]

Mina's father, Henry, who had been the Australasian distance-diving champion in 1896, built Wylie's Baths (the oldest surviving communal sea baths in Australia) near Coogee Beach, in 1907, and it was in that area where she grew up (and, indeed, lived for the rest of her life).

Mina and her friend and fellow competitor, Fanny Durack, were not originally slated to go to Stockholm in 1912 (women's events were still very few), but public demand for the girls to be allowed to compete led the New South Wales Ladies Amateur Swimming Association to change their rules (particularly the one which forbade their members to appear in competitions when men were present). Mina and Fanny had to raise their own funds to get to there, and to cover their stay while there, and to arrange to be accompanied by an "appropriate chaperone".

MISS MINA WYLIE, of Coogee

who is leaving for Stockholm next week to take part in the Olympic Games, and to share with Miss Fanny Durack the responsibility of upholding the honor of New South Wales. In the 1909-10 season Miss Wylie won all the State and inter-State championships, including breast-stroke, back stroke, and free style of swimming. She also has represented New South Wales in Brisbane (twice), Melbourne (once), and in Sydney (twice), with marked success on all occasions. Miss Durack is already on the way to Europe, and Miss Wylie will leave on May 4.^[2]

Mina and her father travelled to the Olympics aboard the Malwa, arriving at Plymouth, England on the 15th June,^[3] and returning via London aboard the Morea and arriving in Sydney on the 30th September.^[4]

1912 Summer Olympics Silver Medal.

At the Games in Stockholm, Mina was to win the silver medal to Fanny's gold, against 25 other women competing in the 100-metre event.

Unfortunately for both Mina Wylie and Fanny Durack, the planned 1916 Berlin Olympics were cancelled due to the Great War, so they were unable to repeat their success of Stockholm. However, they kept on swimming, and competing,^[5] planning for participation in future international events. The 1920 Antwerp Olympics were as big a bust for the girls as had been 1916's, as Fanny was prevented by illness (an appendectomy followed by typhoid fever, and pneumonia) from competing; and Mina was not selected.

Such setbacks did not phase the girl from Coogee, and she continued to swim and compete – and, later, to teach swimming at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Pymble, for more than four decades (1928 to 1970).

VISITOR BEATS MINA WYLIE.

In winning the 220 yds State championship at the Domain Baths last night Miss Bleibtry employed the famous Hawaiian—American, trudgeon—crawl. Again the newest of strokes triumphed. The champion's appearance here has been keenly anticipated, and there was a very large attendance at the baths. On the starting board Miss Bleibtry fairly eclipsed her Australian opponents. She looked big and bronzed, and beside her Miss Mina Wylie, in whom swimming Australia reposes her faith, now that Miss Fanny Durack is no longer active, looked frail and diminutive. No one could miss what exercise means to girlhood. It is a means to an end, and end is not all muscular work. Rather it is greater vitality. The American girl is deep-chested and of medium height, and built on loosely set but well-developed lines.^[6]

In 1930 Mina was living at 13 Neptune Street, Coogee, with her brother, Harold Arthur.^[7]
In 1980 she was still living in Coogee, with her brother.^[8]

Wilhelmina "Mina" Wylie passed away on the 6th July 1984, in Randwick, New South Wales, Australia, just nine days after her 93rd birthday, having never married, and with no known children, ^[9] and was buried in the Church of England section of the Randwick General Cemetery, South Coogee.^[10]

LEGACY

• In 1975 Mina Wylie was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
• A statue (by Eileen Slarke) in Mina's honour was placed at Wylie`s Baths, Neptune Street, Coogee, in 2001.
• Mina Wylie Crescent, Gordon, ACT, was named to honour her.
• In 2021 Mina was honoured by a Google Doodle to mark what would have been her 130th birthday.

Sources

1. ↑ Birth — New South Wales State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Birth Registration details: Name: WYLIE WILHELMINA; Registration Number: 32581/1891; Father's Given Name(s): HENRY A; Mother's Given Name(s): FLORENCE A; District: ST LEONARDS
2. ↑ Off to the Olympics "MISS MINA WYLIE." The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954) 28 April 1912: 19. Web. 14 Jul 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228857270>.
3. ↑ Travel to the Olympics — Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA). Series BT26, 1,472 pieces. The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 533. Name Miss Mina Wylie; Arrival Age 20; Birth Date 1892; Port of Departure Sydney, Australia; Arrival Date 15 Jun 1912; Port of Arrival London, England; Ports of Voyage Melbourne; Adelaide; Fremantle; Yokohama; Kobe; Shanghai; Singapore; Colombo; Bombay; Aden; Suez; Port Said; Marseilles; Gibraltar; Plymouth, Devon, England; Ship Name Malwa; Shipping Line Peninsula and Orient Steam Navigation Company Ltd; Official Number 127543
4. ↑ Return from the Olympics — Public Record Office Victoria; North Melbourne, Victoria; Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (British Ports) [Microfiche Copy of VPRS 947]; Series: VPRS 7666. Name Miss Wylie; Nationality English; Arrival Age 23; Birth Date 1889; Departure Place London; Arrival Date 30 Sep 1912; Arrival Place Sydney, Australia; Ship Morea
5. ↑ Post Olympic Competition — "WILHELMINA WYLIE IN FORM." The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930) 24 November 1913: 5. Web. 14 Jul 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238966902>.
6. ↑ News Article — "VISITOR BEATS MINA WYLIE." The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930) 17 February 1921: 5. Web. 14 Jul 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239732046>.
7. ↑ Electoral Rolls 1930 — Australian Electoral Commission.
8. ↑ Electoral Rolls 1980 — Australian Electoral Commission.
9. ↑ Death — New South Wales State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Death Registration details: Name: WYLIE WILHELMINA; Registration Number: 15175/1984; Father's Given Name(s): HENRY ALEXANDER; Mother's Given Name(s): FLORENCE ANN; District: -
10. ↑ Burial — Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/202607006/wilhelmina-wylie : accessed 12 July 2021), memorial page for Wilhelmina “Mina” Wylie (27 Jun 1891–6 Jul 1984), Find A Grave: Memorial #202607006, citing Randwick General Cemetery, South Coogee, Randwick City, New South Wales, Australia ; Maintained by Peterborough K (contributor 46537737).

• BDM registrations.

See also:

• Wikipedia : Mina Wylia
• Wikidata: Item Q851867, en:Wikipedia
• Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University : Wylie, Wilhemina (Mina) (1891–1984)
• State Library of New South Wales : Mina Wylie, Coogee, 1913
• "SWIMMING." Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922) 11 July 1912: 3. Web. 14 Jul 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83335432>.
• "Stockholm Olympic Games." Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette (Qld. : 1868 - 1919) 11 July 1912: 3. Web. 14 Jul 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189703316>.
• A century before Cate Campbell there was Mina Wylie