10 June 2026
Adult swimming lessons support multicultural communities in the Pilbara
Learning to swim is something many people in Australia grow up with, but not everyone has that chance early in life. For adults who missed out, it is never too late to start building the skills and confidence that can help them feel safer in and around the water.
33 adults from multicultural backgrounds in Karratha and Newman recently had the opportunity to build their swimming and water safety skills through a new pilot program delivered by Royal Life Saving WA in partnership with Pilbara Community Legal Service.
The program gave participants the chance to learn new swimming skills at their community pools with the support of experienced local instructors. Mixed adult classes were delivered in both communities, along with Women’s Only lessons held in Karratha.
“The instructors are very professional and knew what they were doing,” one participant shared. “I would recommend swimming lessons to everyone and I am now very confident in the water.”
Another participant added, “I absolutely loved the teachers, they were very professional and put a lot of effort to make the lessons clear and understandable for all levels of non-English speakers.”
Adult swimming lessons offer practical support in communities where water is part of daily life. For many people who have moved to Australia from overseas, swimming lessons may not have been available in their home country. In regional WA, where pools, beaches, rivers and fishing are often part of community life, building water safety skills can be especially valuable.
Programs like this are part of a broader effort to reduce drowning risk in Australia and make water safety education more accessible. Multicultural communities are consistently overrepresented in drowning data, with 15.7% of drowning deaths in WA involving a person born overseas. Drowning incidents are also twice as likely to occur in regional WA than in the Perth metro area, which makes local, community-based programs especially important. For the Pilbara, these lessons are a step toward safer, stronger communities.
The lessons were delivered with support from Pilbara Community Legal Service as part of its Department of Home Affairs funded Settlement Engagement and Transition Support Program, which assists multicultural communities through case work and group activities.
Victoria Malyk from Pilbara Community Legal Service said the partnership helped bring practical water safety education to adults in Karratha and Newman.
“We are proud to partner with Royal Life Saving WA to deliver multicultural swimming lessons for adults in Karratha and Newman. This builds on a successful program run in South Hedland over several years, where participants have consistently provided very positive feedback.”
Programs like this show what can happen when local support meets a real community need. Each lesson gives more adults the chance to learn new lifesaving skills and feel more confident around the water.
To learn more about multicultural adult swimming lessons in WA, follow the link below.
