(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The safety of new migrants and tourists around water is of extra significance, with many being unfamiliar with Australia's often treacherous waterways.
Harmless fun in the sun, but, suddenly, it can become deadly.
Swimming is one of the great Australian passions, but drowning is one of the leading causes of death for the country's children under five years old.
A child can drown in about 20 seconds.
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The Royal Lifesaving National Drowning Report says, in the year from July 2012 to June 2013, almost 300 people drowned in Australia, up five per cent from the previous year.
Eleven of the victims were tourists.
While swimming pools are the most common place for drownings, accounting for almost two in five, Australia's natural waterways can also be deadly.
Earlier this year, an African teenager was caught in a rip off the West Australian coast.
A few months before the teenager's fatality, a British tourist died around the same area after he was caught in a rip.
Royal Lifesaving Australia chief executive Justin Scarr says tourists often find themselves in risky situations.
"Rivers particularly, many of the risks are unknown and unsighted. Often, a river, a dam or a lake looks flat or still on the surface. However, below the surface, there can be hidden obstacles, there can be quite strong currents. There can also be substantial changes in water temperature. So cold water, particularly, can have a range of effects on the body that can increase the risk for drowning."
Of the 291 deaths by drowning, 31 of the victims were under age five, with most occuring in backyard swimming pools.
Robert Caulfield, from the child safety group Kidsafe Victoria, says pool owners must heed the requirements around pool safety.
"All backyard pools are (to be) properly fenced in accordance with the law. Most of them are now. People actually (must) undertake a proper maintenance regime when they are about to have a party or have children over. And one of the things that we have seen has caused drownings in the past that we never want to see is when people prop pool gates open."
James Scarr, from Royal Lifesaving Australia, says safety around water is something unfamiliar to many migrants, with many taught water is not a source of recreation.
He says there are a number of steps people can take to ensure a safe time in the water.
"We certainly advise, before you go anywhere near water, that you understand the weather conditions, what the weather might do throughout the day. Obviously, it's very important that you swim only in patrolled locations. In many respects, the safest place to swim on a hot summer's day is actually at a local community swimming pool. But we do understand that people like to get out into our waterways, and I guess the thing we see, unfortunately, represented in drowning statistics each and every year is the impact of alcohol. So we certainly encourage people to minimise the intake of alcohol in and around the water, as it may impact on their ability to swim to safety, but also their ability to supervise their own children."
Mr Scarr adds, once people are in Australia, there is a responsibility to ensure the children can swim and can understand general practices around water safety.
James Prowse is the founder of the African Children's Swimming Program.
Mr Prowse says, during his time as a swimming instructor in 2008, he saw the need for a specialised program around water familiarity and safety.
"Every summer, I would notice, in the media, stories -- terrible stories -- of families of newly arrived immigrants who had tried to get involved in one of perhaps the quintessential Australian summer pastimes of spending a day by a river or a beach. And the terrible story would go on to say the multiple individuals within the family would seem to get themselves into trouble and often resulting in tragedies."
The Yarra City Council in Victoria runs the African Children's Swimming Program in conjunction with Jesuit Social Services and the Neighbourhood Justice Centre.
It targets newly arrived and refugee immigrants to Australia from Africa.
The program offers children between ages four and 12 the opportunity to learn vital swimming and water safety skills.
James Prowse says many migrants who come to Australia lack the confidence around water that many local children take for granted.
"For those coming from Africa, many of whom have come from countries where there's trauma, (they) find these opportunities both exciting but very unfamiliar. So it seems to be that's the major barrier that's placed in front of these African communities. But the other is simply more geographical, in that many come from landlocked countries, (or) where the coast is either hazardous or just too far away."
He says learning to stay afloat and signal for help, mastering a basic swim stroke and using a flotation device are some of the main components of the classes.