Although the art of swimming has been practised for many centuries it did not achieve status as a sport until the 1830s, the first clubs being organised in England about 1837. The earliest swimming club in New Zealand was the Christchurch Amateur Swimming Club, which was formed on 11 October 1880. This was followed by the formation of similar clubs at Hamilton (1881), Auckland (1888), East Christchurch (1890), Ashburton and Gisborne (1891), Lyttelton, Port Ahuriri, and St. Albans (1892), Sydenham, Richmond, and Whangarei (1893), and Dunedin, Napier, Wellington, and Palmerston North (1894).
On 4 January 1890 Roland W. St. Clair, secretary of the Auckland Swimming Club, convened the first of a series of meetings which led to the formation, later in the year, of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association, the first officers of the Association being Sir William Fox, president, and R. W. St. Clair, secretary. With variations to make them applicable to local conditions, the rules of the Amateur Swimming Association (England) were accepted by the New Zealand clubs. At first the association's headquarters were in Auckland, but this was not acceptable to South Island members. In 1896, therefore, they were transferred to Christchurch, though the change was opposed bitterly by Auckland. St. Clair withdrew his club from the Association and in January 1898 formed a rival body, the New Zealand Amateur Association Registered. For several years these two organisations fought for the control of New Zealand swimming. The breach between the two was not healed until 1904, when the centre system was devised to meet Auckland's and other localities' demands for a measure of autonomy. Since then the N.Z.A.S.A. has remained the controlling body of the sport in New Zealand.
In the 75 years since the N.Z.A.S.A. was founded, swimming has become one of the country's major summer sports. There were only three clubs in existence in 1890, but, by 1963, these had increased to 197 clubs – grouped in 16 regional centres – having a total registered membership of 26,000.
In 1892 the N.Z.A.S.A. approached the Minister of Education with the suggestion that swimming should be recognised as an alternative to physical drill in New Zealand schools. The Association offered to train swimming instructors and award proficiency certificates in swimming and lifesaving. In 1899 the Government agreed to make a small annual grant to subsidise the cost of printing the certificates. Over the years the Association has taught many thousands of young people to swim and has expanded its national championships to cater for schoolboys and girls who have thus been induced to take up the sport. In addition the New Zealand swimming champions have undertaken educational tours on many occasions.
The centres held schoolboy championships for the first time in 1907. These proved so successful that, in the following year, events for schoolgirls were added. During the First World War, when the national championships had to be abandoned, the N.Z.A.S.A. established national junior (under 14 years) boys' and girls' championships. These were first competed for in February 1917 at Wellington.
From 1891, when the Royal Life Saving Society was founded, the N.Z.A.S.A. kept in close touch with the movement, and finally became affiliated in 1908. After 1910, when the New Zealand branch was established, swimming authorities continued to encourage the society's aims by arranging courses of instruction in lifesaving techniques.
In 1894 a New South Wales swimming team visited Auckland to compete in the first intercolonial championship carnival, and, four years later, the first official Australasian championship meeting was held at Christchurch. Since then competitions have taken place regularly between the two countries. In 1910 New Zealand was elected to membership of the Fédration International de Natation Amateur (founded 1908) and thus became eligible to compete in international fixtures, including the Olympic Games. Malcolm Champion represented New Zealand at the 1911 Festival of Empire Games, London, and, in the following year, competed at the Olympic Games at Stockholm. Violet Walrond competed at the 1920 Olympic Games at Antwerp, and Gwitha Shand and E. C. Heard represented New Zealand at Paris in 1924. Since then the New Zealand teams have competed at most Olympiads, so far, however, without significant success. New Zealand swimmers have competed at the various Empire Games and, at Auckland in 1950, the New Zealand team won the 4 × 220 yards free-style relay. In 1954 J. A. Doms won the gold medal in the 220 yards breast-stroke event. In 1958 T. Stavely won the silver medal for the 110 yards butterfly-stroke event, while P. Gould won the bronze medal for the 110 yards back-stroke event. At Perth, 1962, Vivienne Haddon won a silver medal in the 100 yards and a bronze medal in the 220 yards breast-stroke events, while F. A. Thomas won a bronze medal in the 220 yards men's back-stroke.
Although the Christchurch Amateur Swimming Club had held a New Zealand championship meeting in 1886, the national swimming titles were instituted officially in 1890. These were the men's 100, 220, and 440 yards free-style events. For some years these were decided at different carnivals, but the arrangement proved unsatisfactory and, since 1905, they have been competed for at a single carnival. From time to time new championship events have been added. These include 220 and 100 yards breast-stroke titles (1906 and 1939); back-stroke (1938); butterfly stroke (1948); medley championships (1947); long-distance championships (1950); and the 1,650 yards free-style championship (1953). The race was previously known as “The Mile”, and had been swum over this distance since 1901. In 1912 women's national titles were instituted, the first event being the 100 yards freestyle championship. Later, women's 440 yards (1921) and 220 yards (1924) free-style events were established, and, since then, breast-stroke (1924), back-stroke (1929), and butterfly-stroke (1948) events have been introduced.
Though the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association had considered competitive diving as early as 1909, this was not added to the championship programme until 1920 (women, 1924). Tower diving was added in 1952. The principal national swimming trophies are the Yaldhurst Shield (1912) – the senior teams' points trophy-and the Freyberg Shield (1954), for senior and junior teams.
From 1892 until 1951 water polo was controlled by the N.Z.A.S.A., and the national water polo championship was held under the auspices of the association. In 1951 the sport was transferred to the New Zealand Water Polo Board, which administers it under the N.Z.A.S.A. rules.
The first European to swim Cook Strait was Barrie Devenport, who on 20 November 1963 made the crossing in the time of 11 hours 13 minutes. This feat was repeated by Keith Hancox on 7 February 1964 in the time of 9 hours 34 minutes. Foveaux Strait was swum by a Dutch immigrant, John van Leeuwen, on 7 February 1963 in the time of nearly 14 hours. On 7 August 1965 Keith Hancox became the first New Zealander to swim the English Channel, in the time of 15 hours 33 minutes.