We’re pleased to share that the Wollongong City Council has won the 2024 Welcoming Cities Award for Change in the local government category.
The awards, in their third year, recognise the progress taken to strengthen social cohesion with newly arrived people to the city so that everyone has a chance to participate, belong and thrive.
Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said that Council received the award for successfully developing local partnerships that have worked together to run local water safety education initiatives for multicultural communities.
“In 2012 following a number of drownings in Wollongong, including the drownings of former refugees and international students, Council supported the establishment of the Illawarra Multicultural Water Safety Network,” Cr Bradbery said.
“Facilitated by the NSW Office of Sport, the Network brought together key players to advocate for the needs of multicultural communities and deliver water safety programs in the region.”
Through this Network, Wollongong City Council Lifeguards and Council’s Community Development team worked with local aquatic services and community based multicultural organisations to get water safety information and skills to newly arrived and multicultural communities.
In 2019, Wollongong City Council led a statewide Water Safety Forum for government, not-for-profits, and community to learn from each other and strengthen partnerships.
The Illawarra Multicultural Water Safety Network continues to operate to this day, with a recent water safety workshop taking place at Wollongong City Beach in April 2024.
“While Council has offered general water safety programs for the wider community for decades, the Network is a way we can better target and refine our safety initiatives to meet the needs of our multicultural communities,” Cr Bradbery said.
“This work is incredibly important as migrants, international students, and refugees are an at-risk community of drowning deaths in Australia.
“We want to make sure everyone is safe when they visit our beaches. That means making sure everyone, especially those who haven’t grown up around the ocean, have access to the knowledge to develop experience so that they have a good time in the water, without getting into trouble.”
The City of Wollongong is a Welcoming City. Joining the Welcoming Cities network supports the Our Wollongong 2028 Community Strategic Plan goals to build a connected and engaged community and creative and vibrant city.
Want to go for a swim?
Now that the weather is cooling down, we’ve switched over to our winter beach patrol hours. From now until September 2024, North Wollongong is our only patrolled beach (9am-4pm daily).
Even during advertised patrol hours, you should never enter the water if there are no red and yellow flags. Before you go for a swim at the beach, make sure the red and yellow flags are in place signaling that Council Lifeguards or Surf Life Saver volunteers are on duty.
