The Royal Life Saving Society partnered with Wagga City Council to run the pilot program, which was the first of its type for inland water safety.

Royal Life Saving Riverina regional manager Mick Dasey declared this year's program a success as the children completed their last session at Wagga beach on Sunday morning.

"We had about 110 [children] at the maximum enrolment stage, which is pretty much a full compliment," he said.

"We had a ceiling of 120, so that was pleasing."

Mr Dasey said Outback Lifesaver's aim had been to teach basic safety skills and then build on that knowledge over the length of the course with survival, rescue, swimming and teamwork activities.

"Safety education is so critical in the scheme of things and if we can get the kids to understand that at an early age, they can develop that and take it further and further.

"It can't be drill-orientated; it has to give them something to have fun with and enjoy so they want to come back and do it."

Tessa Lawson, aged 10, from Tumut said she had fun taking part in the course and made new friends.

"We learned how to do CPR and safety strokes, " she said.

Heidi Gaynor, aged 13, from Wagga said the skills she learned such as CPR "could actually save someone's life down here [at Wagga Beach]".

"We learned how to check for where the current is and how deep the water is," she said.

"It's good to get outdoors."

In other news

Royal Life Saving in January named the Murrumbidgee River as a top 10 location for inland drownings across Australia.

Wagga councillor Vanessa Keenan, who pushed for a water safety program after a spate of drownings in the Murrumbidgee River, said the first Outback Lifesaver program had been a success.

"No-one really knew how many kids were going to participate and there have been over 100 kids enrolled, which is phenomenal and shows that there is a lot of appetite for this in the community," she said.

"The ability for local kids to learn critical river safety skills at the local river, down here at the beach, is really priceless, so it's exciting to see."

Wagga mayor Greg Conkey congratulated all those involved in the "great" Outback Lifesaver program and said he hoped it would continue in the city next year and be adopted in other areas.

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