Swimming legend Dawn Fraser has been voted Australia's greatest ever female athlete at an awards ceremony in Canberra.
Fraser pipped athletics great Betty Cuthbert and surfer Layne Beachley for the top gong, which was decided by a combination of public vote, expert input from fellow athletes and research conducted by advocacy group Sports for Women.
The Sportswomen's Ball at Parliament House, sponsored by the Australian government and attended by Sports Minister Kate Lundy, announced the top 100 Australian female athletes of all time.
Fraser won four gold and three silver Olympic medals between 1956 and 1964.
She was also the first of only three swimmers in Olympic history to win individual gold medals for the same event at three successive Olympics, taking out the 100m freestyle each time.
