Office Park Development director Bill Henderson got talking with the parents of a member of the Down Syndrome Swimming Australia (DSSA) at a wedding of a mutual friend in June.

A few days later he transferred $70,000 to help the team of 20 swimmers get to the 9th Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships in Canada.

DSSA board director member Joe Dixon said Mr Henderson was interested in the conversation at the wedding about his son Jack going to the competition.

“The whole cost of the trip is about $200,000, the airfares are about $70,000 but they don’t get any government support or sponsorship,” Mr Dixon said

“He [Mr Henderson] very generously decided he and his wife would make a donation of $70,000 to cover the cost of the airfares.

“It brought a tear to our eye.”

Mr Henderson did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Dixon said the Australian swimming team had been world champions for several years.

“They have a lot of world record holders amongst their group,” he said.

It is the third trip to the international competition for Mr Dixon’s 26-year-old son Jack, with 13 members of the team travelling to this year’s competition from Queensland.

The money will be divided among the 20 swimmers.

Mr Dixon said not all families could easily afford the costs associated with the competition and often had to do their own fundraising and ask friends for donations.

“This is a substantial contribution towards that,” he said.

The competition is from July 20-26.