Lesley Meaney (née Cherriman) had arrived in Western Australia from the United Kingdom just three months earlier. A strong swimmer who trained regularly along the Perth coast, she decided to test her endurance against one of the State’s most challenging stretches of open water.
Warned about strong currents near the island, she chose to start at Rottnest and swim towards the mainland, preferring to face the toughest conditions at the beginning, rather than the end. Accompanied by a support crew of skin divers and the West Australian Newspaper boat Hiawatha, she swam steadily through the day, reaching North Mole in the evening.
For the crossing, Lesley wore a pair of ‘Speedo’ racing bathers and goggles sourced from Jacky Sue in Subiaco at a time when such equipment was difficult to find. Her swim was documented in newspapers and short film footage, recognised as a significant moment in Western Australia’s open water swimming history. Some of these records are now held by the State Library of WA.
The effort was so momentous that it took 20 years before another woman, Heather Cambridge, completed a crossing of the Rottnest Channel in 1989.
Lesley’s achievements didn’t stop with just one swim. The following year she repeated the crossing, this time swimming from Fremantle to Rottnest and becoming the first person to complete the swim in both directions. In the year 2000, at the age of 55, she once again swam the channel solo – this time achieving her goal in 7.02 hours and, in 2025, she competed in the 3km Open Water Swim at the World Aquatics Masters Championships, winning Gold in the in the 80–84-year-old age group.
Remaining deeply involved in the sport, Lesley helped establish the Rottnest Channel Swim Association in the early 1990s, where she is now recognised as both a life member and Hall of Fame member. She also authored Why swim to Rottnest when you can catch the ferry? Eighty years of open water swimming in Western Australia.
Lesley’s bathers and surviving goggle lenses were recently accepted into the WA Museum’s History collection. They represent not only her pioneering Channel crossing, but also the early foundations of the Rottnest Channel Swim — an annual competition attracting thousands of competitors from across WA, interstate and overseas.
Ensuring stories like Lesley’s are preserved helps strengthen how women’s sporting achievements are remembered, reinforcing the importance of visible role models for future generations.
