The board and members of the Channel Swimming Association wish to send their deepest condolences to the family of Linda McGill during this difficult time. We were saddened to hear of her passing and wanted to acknowledge her remarkable life and extraordinary achievements in open water swimming on the anniversary of her first English Channel Crossing in 1965.
Linda's journey into Channel swimming began unexpectedly during a tour of Britain and Europe with fellow Australian Olympic swimmers Ruth Everuss and Llsa Konrads. Although she had no prior knowledge of Channel swimming, it was suggested to her upon her arrival in London, leading to her historic swim on August 7, 1965, when she became the first Australian to conquer the Channel. Her strong spirit was evident from her parting shout of "She’ll be right, sport" as she embarked from Dover on August 6 with Konrads and Everuss. Linda was fondly remembered in England as a friendly, tall, blonde, blue-eyed London City barmaid with a daunting "Junoesque" build before her Channel swim. Her career further flourished in 1967 when she swam the Channel twice, setting a women's record of 9 hours 59 minutes, which came close to the men's record of 9 hours 35 minutes at the time.
Her accomplishments extended far beyond the Channel, cementing her legacy as a true pioneer in marathon swimming. She was the first person to swim across Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, Australia (25 miles from Portarlington to Frankston), the first to swim around Hong Kong Island, and the first from Townsville to Magnetic Island in Queensland. Linda's incredible achievements were recognized with an MBE on New Year’s Day in 1968, making her the youngest Australian to receive this honor. She was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968 and was part of the inaugural class of inductees into the Australian Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2020. Her contributions to the sport were immense, and her indomitable spirit will be deeply missed.
