Morgan's selection in the final quartet raised controversy because of her inexperience in top-level racing and her history of false starts.

During the final, she lifted her head out of the water and saw her American opponent ahead of her, prompting her to regain the lead with a late burst in the third leg.

In 1957, she won the 110-, 220-, and 440-yard treble at the Australian Championships in the absence of her main rivals, but from that point on her career was plagued by illness and weight problems.

She was selected in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games purely as a relay swimmer, winning gold in the event.

Morgan was born in the north-western New South Wales city of Tamworth, before growing up in Punchbowl, a suburb in South-western Sydney.

She was initially slow to learn, and her coach used a long pole attached to a rope and belt to maintain her safety.

[2] At the time, Guthrie was regarded as one of the best coaches in the state; his students included Gary Chapman, Kevin O'Halloran and Lorraine Crapp.

[3] Under Guthrie's coaching, Morgan quickly became one of the fastest junior swimmers in the state, winning the under-14 110-yard and 55-yard freestyle, as well as the 110-yard butterfly at the New South Wales Championships in 1956.

Morgan trained in the Tobruk Memorial Baths alongside swimmers such as Crapp, Alva Colquhoun, Faith Leech and Dawn Fraser, and her times steadily improved.

[5] Morgan was placed under substantial pressure by media commentary that regarded her as the weak link in the relay team.

[6] The selection of Leech and Morgan for the 6 December final generated controversy, as they were the two youngest swimmers in the squad and lacked experience at open level competition.

[5] Australia was the favourite for the relay, having swept the medals in the individual 100-metre event; Fraser, Crapp and Leech finished first, second and third.

The mark was surpassed in later heats by Fraser and Crapp, but Morgan nevertheless qualified fourth fastest for the final, almost seven seconds faster than the cutoff.

Morgan was unable to repeat her heat performance, finishing sixth in a time of 5 minutes 14.3 seconds, far outside her personal best.

[12] Nevertheless, she noted that "I was so happy that I had made the final in an individual event in the Olympic Games, for this was my first appearance in a senior competition".

Along with Fraser, Crapp and Konrads, she broke the world record for the event in March in Sydney with a time of 4 minutes 18.9 seconds.

At the Empire Games, Fraser, Crapp, Morgan and Colquhoun lowered the world record to a time of 4 minutes 17.4 seconds to win gold.

[10][13] After the Empire Games, the Australian team returned home via France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Singapore for a series of competitions.

[14] However, Morgan posted the slowest leg of the Australian quartet and was dropped when Fraser and Konrads were brought into the team for the final, in which Australia won silver.

[13] Morgan married George Beavis in 1965 and had three daughters, all of whom enjoyed swimming victories at school and district level.

In 1978, she began teaching handicapped children to swim in her backyard pool, and was given a government grant to continue her work.

[17] In later life, Morgan successfully fought a life-threatening battle against lupus,[18] and in 2004 she was living in Sutherland Shire in southern Sydney.