Club History – Lawson Amateur Swimming Club

Lawson Amateur Swimming Club was established on November 4 1930, making it one of the oldest swimming clubs in NSW.

The club originally swam in a dam on the site of the current pool. The dam was originally built in the 1800s to provide water for steam locomotives on their journey across the mountains, but after the construction of Wentworth Falls Lake in the early 1900s, the Lawson dam was declared a Reserve for Recreation . This area was known as Snake Gully or Frog Hollow by the locals at the time.

In the 1960s, the local community raised money to help develop the dam site into a 50m Olympic Pool, which is still used by the club today.

The Jack Ryan Shield

The Jack Ryan Shield is awarded annually in recognition of one of the founding members of the club. The shield is presented each year to the overall pointscore champion. This photo was taken in 2013.

The oldest engravings on the shield are on the round pieces towards the bottom, and they date back to the mid-1930s:

1939-40 Shirley Hughes, Jim Riordan 48 points.
1938-39 Bert Gabriel 31 points.
1936-37 Miss Jennie Hawkins 33 points / 1937-38 Miss Nell Gabriel 42 points.

The more recent recipients of the shield are:

1976-77 G Anderson
1977-78 Walter Hitchell
1978-79 Walter Hitchell
1979-80 Walter Hitchell
1980-81 Walter Hitchell
1981-82 G Salisbury
1982-83 G Salisbury
1983-84 G Salisbury
1984-85 G Salisbury
1985-86 G Salisbury
1986-87 G Salisbury
1987-88 D Anderson
1988-89 G Salisbury
1989-90 Trent Firth
1990-91 Graeme Toovey
1996-97 Tanya Davies
1997-98 Tanya Davies
1999-2000 Layth Saeed
2000-01 Cathryn Harrison
2001-02 Jonathan Davies & Nico Blazey
2003-04 Mitchell Gawthorne & Tanya Davies
2004-05 Jarrod Regan
2005-06 Jonathan Davies
2006-07 Tanya Davies
2007-08 Andrew Simson
2008-09 Ben Simson
2009-10 Joshua Stockton
2010-11 Joshua Stockton
2011-12 Joshua Stockton
2012-13 David Tobin
2013-14 Michael Witherow
2014-15 David Tobin
2015-16 Elana Forth
2016-17 Dylan Schuler & David Tobin
2017-18 Jillian Pateman
2018-19 David Tobin
2019-20 David Tobin
2020-21 Harry Stevens
2021-22 Harry Stevens
2022-23 David Tobin
2023-24 Elouise Tailford