Piper’s program has taught 300 kids to swim. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
When 12-year-old Piper Stewart went to her local Griffith pool one afternoon, she noticed she was the only Aboriginal child there.
“I went home and I had a bit of a think, why [was I the only Indigenous kid there]?” she said. “I realised that lessons cost a lot of money and it’s a problem getting to the pool for your lesson. So I decided to raise money to teach Indigenous children how to swim.”
Piper started the charity Bambigi, the name being a Wiradjiri word meaning “to swim”. Bambigi provides subsidised lessons for Indigenous children in Griffith, Leeton, Coleambally, Deniliquin and Lake Cargelligo. In the four years since the program commenced, more than 300 Indigenous children have learned how to swim.
“Aboriginal people are more than three times more likely to drown than non-Indigenous people,” Piper said. “Here in Griffith we have kids swimming in irrigation channels and creeks. That’s why this program is so important. It’s saving lives.
“I think we have been really successful thanks to the support from my mum and from the whole community.”
Piper raised money to subsidise these lessons through a GoFundMe page, by selling raffle tickets and doing various charity events. In 2019, she swam eight kilometres non-stop for three hours to raise money as part of a swimathon she organised.
Piper wins silver at a NAIDOC week event. Photo: Supplied.
Now aged 16, Piper has become somewhat of a celebrity in swimming circles. Earlier this month, she was invited to Sydney to make a presentation at Royal Life Saving Australia’s Water Safety Summit 2022, which brought together 200 water safety experts from across Australia and New Zealand with the aim of drawing attention to groups most at risk of drowning. Event organisers made special mention of Piper’s speech, describing it as “one of the most inspiring” on their website.
She has also continued to excel at swimming competitions. In July, she won a silver medal at a special Swimming NSW Indigenous Relay event held as part of NAIDOC Week celebrations. Four teams of swimmers participated, representing a number of different Aboriginal cultures, and swimming clubs from across NSW. Teams were named after water animals and derived from the Dharug language – the traditional language of the Wann-gal people, on whose land competition took place: Team Burra (Eel), Team Darawan (Seal), Team Maugra (Fish), and Team Walumil (Port Jackson Shark).
The Murrumbidgee Regional High year 11 student has also become a qualified swim instructor, but she’s also branching out into another career, motivated by the chronic shortage of health professionals in rural areas.
“I plan to go to university and study to be a paramedic,” she said. “I really like helping people. I’d like to either come back to Griffith [to work after uni] or move to another regional area where they really need paramedics.”
In the meantime, she remains focused on her thriving swim program. Bambigi also supports Griffith Wiradjuri preschool kids to learn to swim and is looking to branch out into other towns within the Riverina. More information about Bambigi can be found on their website.
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