During COVID-19 lockdowns, Loretta Bellato became a member of a small but enthusiastic band of swimmers who sought solace in the sediment-rich waters of the Yarra River.

It wasn’t just any stretch of the river, but Deep Rock in Fairfield, the site of a swimming club that operated until the 1940s. These days, it is less than one kilometre away from a water-testing site in Kew that has one of the highest concentrations of E.coli on the Yarra.

That didn’t deter Bellato, who describes swimming in the Yarra River as a spiritual experience that fundamentally changes the relationship of swimmers with their natural environment.

“It is such a different experience than going into a swimming pool, where it just feels dead,” she says.

“You feel that warmth, and you see the animals ... it makes you

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