Annette Kellerman (1886–1975), champion swimmer and entertainer, was among the early twentieth century's most recognisable women. Born in Sydney, Kellerman was diagnosed with rickets as a child and learnt to swim to strengthen her legs. Aged fifteen, Kellerman became the state champion for the 100 yards and set a world record for the mile. In Melbourne from 1903, she began giving diving demonstrations and accomplished the first of her feats of endurance swimming. Frustrated with the lack of opportunities in Australia, she went to England in 1905, earning attention with a number of marathon swims, including three attempts at swimming the English Channel. A deft self-promoter, Kellerman styled herself as the 'Australian Mermaid' and the 'Diving Venus', devising a unique stage show that eventually combined music, singing, dancing and wire-walking with diving and underwater ballet. She left for the USA in 1907 and performed in amusement parks in Chicago and Boston before being signed by New York impresario, Benjamin Franklin Keith. By 1917, she was reputedly the highest paid woman in vaudeville and had starred in the first of several feature films, each a vehicle for her stunts and mermaid routines. These ventures powered Kellerman's parallel profile as a fitness advocate and populariser of the women's one-piece swimming costume. Declared 'the Perfect Woman' in 1908, Kellerman was a potent embodiment of modern femininity and her attitudes on exercise and swimwear issued a strident challenge to notions of 'decency'. She promoted her beliefs in the pioneering books Physical Beauty: How to Keep It and How to Swim (both 1918). After moving back to Queensland in the 1930s, Kellerman spent the Second World War touring with her own theatre troupe, performing charity shows for soldiers in Australia and the Pacific. In 1952, Esther Williams starred in a film about Kellerman's life, Million Dollar Mermaid, referring to her feature film Neptune's Daughter which grossed over US$1 million in 1914. Staying true to her belief in the benefits of a daily swim until very late in her life, she died in 1975, aged 89.
