Marrickville Council makes decision on Petersham Pool

At the 17 April Marrickville Council meeting, a decision was made on the future of the Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre aka Petersham Pool.

The good news is that there will continue to be a pool in Petersham Park. At the meeting it was resolved to tender the works, closing the pool over the 2012-13 season (depending on the results of the tender process) and reducing the length from 33 metres to 25 metres in line with FINA standards.

Part of the motion carried at the meeting strongly restated Council's commitment to building a new pool. Point 5 of the motion supported extension of the opening hours of the new pool from the start of the September school holidays to the end of March or the end of the Easter school holidays, whichever is the latter.

So while it's the end of the 33-metre pool, I am happy that Council has made a decision to build a new pool.  Hopefully the relaxed atmosphere of the current centre will continue at the new one. Council has advised that the exact dates of the re-opening will not be known until the successful tender is awarded. I will keep you posted on the outcome of the tender process in the coming months.   To read the motion approved at the 17 April meeting click on the minutes and scroll to page 6.

The future of Petersham's Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre

Petersham Pool closed yesterday for winter. We now wait to see what its future will be. Will it be redeveloped into a 25-metre, 8 lane pool?  Will it continue as it is or will it close forever?

Most of the locals who swim regularly at the patched-up, 49-year-old pool would like to see it remain as it is. They are not keen to have it reduced from 33-metres to 25, and hope that its leaks and cracks can be repaired rather than having to rebuild a totally new pool.  On the Marrickville Council website, Labor councillor, Petersham resident and swimmer, Laura Wright says a priority for her first term on Council was the repair and upgrade of Petersham Pool

When I rang Marrickville Council I was advised that the future of the pool and the possible redevelopment  will be discussed at the 17 April council meeting.  Local sources tell me that as a new council will be elected in September, the current council are not likely to commit a future council to a major project. At the same time they said that the Green-dominated council are in favour of community swimming pools so they are not likely to vote to close down the pool.

So until then we will just have to sit back and wait and see. Stay tuned.

A final tune from Tav, the music man at Manuka Pool

John ‘Tav’ Taverner played his final song at Manuka Pool last Sunday. He went out with a bang and a bit of emotion with Billy Thorpe's version of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' on full volume around the 81-year-old swimming pool.

"It's the song I play every so often when I am in the mood," says the music-loving Tav. “When Billy Thorpe passed away in 2007 I played it daily for about two weeks. It was my final song for the pool and the neighbourhood." 

After  22 years managing Canberra's oldest pool, at 4pm on 25 March, Tav closed the doors for the final time. Turning 60 this year, he decided it was time to call it a day, ending his family's 65-year connection with the pool. Tav took over as manager in 1990 from his parents Owen and Lesley, who ran the pool for the preceding 34 years.

On Sunday all the regulars gathered to say a final farewell to Tav and thank him for his years of dedication to their “special pool”. Among the well-wishers were members of the Coneheads, a group of mainly retired former public servants and military men, who swim each morning.

"It's the end of an era today," said 89-year-old Conehead, Merv Knowles, who has been swimming at the pool since he was a child. He was at the official opening on 26 January 1931 and swam with Tav’s father Owen in the late 1930s and early 40s.

Tav with Coneheads, Merv Knowles, 89 (left) and Don Tier, 90 (right)

“The next manager has very big shoes to fill,” said Merv. “Tav had the place ship-shape and running by 6.30 am every morning. He put in long hours and has been fastidious in ensuring it is clean and runs well. He’s brought a lot of good will and fun to this pool."

Rosemary Hollow, who learnt to swim at the 33-metre pool in the late 1950s and spent her adolescence there, said she'll miss Tav's music. "He had the best selection of music from Middle Eastern to Bob Dylan. On Sunday mornings lapping up and down to Johnny Cash is pure bliss."

Over the past 22 years, music has been a big part of the atmosphere of the art deco space with Tav’s diverse range of CDs played over the PA as patrons enjoyed the water. If they needed calming down on a hot afternoon he'd play something soothing. Other times he'd liven things up with the Rolling Stones, The Beatles or another rock and roll band from the 1960s.

At the deep end of Manuka Pool.

“My love of music is long and deep,” said Tav. “Since I bought my first single, ‘I Can't Control Myself’ by The Troggs back in 1960s, I have been passionate about music.”

And when it came to say goodbye, he drew on one of his favourite singers for his final words. "I could stand here all day and say thank you and I love you all dearly," said Tav. "But I always go back to the immortal words of Bob Dylan: 'Thank you friends.'"

The Taverner family: Tav, wife Pearle and daughters' Grace (left) and Sophie (right) with Tav's dog Tula.

Good luck Tav. You'll never be forgotten at Manuka Swimming Pool.  If you click on the links you can hear some of the music he played at the pool.

In the deep end at almost 80-year-old Enfield Pool

Fear, that's what I feel, just for a moment when the depth of the water in a pool drops suddenly. I experienced this the other day when I visited Enfield Pool for the first time. I was swimming along and then all of sudden a line appeared across the white tiles and the depth dropped from one metre to three metres.  A bit further along I was in even deeper water with the bottom of the pool five metres below.  I think it is the suddenness of the drop that startles me.

I had the same experience at North Sydney Pool and more recently at Maryborough Pool in the Central Goldfields area of Victoria. What connects these pools is that they were opened between 1933 and 1940. North Sydney and Enfield share the same architects’ Rudder and Grout, who also designed Bankstown (1933) and Granville Pools (1936).

The reason for the five metre depth was because they all originally had diving towers.  At Enfield Pool, Sydney's first Olympic-standard chlorine pool, there is an original poster from the early days advertising diving lessons with Harry Tickle. “Diving and swimming taught scientifically by Harry Tickle, ex-Australian and NSW Diving Champion,” the poster says. There are also old photos of the Australian High Tower Championships that were held there in 1954-55. Looking at the height they were diving from I can see why the pool had to be so deep.

When I used to swim at North Sydney Pool during the mid to late 1970s, only the 1-metre springboard was still in action. Although never a great diver I remember going in a couple of diving events at school swimming carnivals. After awhile I gave it away and concentrated on the swimming races, leaving the diving competition to more skilled competitors like our friend Cathie-Anne.

There's not many diving boards left at pools these days as they have become Occupational Health and Safety (OH and S) issues. At Northbridge Baths where I swam as a child, the tough boys hung out near the diving board.  They’d lie on the concrete with their bikini-clad girlfriends and smoke cigarettes. Then they’d have competitions to see who could do a bomb off the bright blue springboard and get closest to the concrete wall without hitting it. If my memory serves me well there was an accident or two?

The area where the diving board used to be at Northbridge Baths.

Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre, which was opened in 1960, still has its diving tower because it’s in a separate pool. It is strictly controlled and only open at certain times. A year or so ago when I was at the pool with my now 13 and 11-year-old nieces, the older one became fixated with diving off the tower. When it eventually opened she couldn’t get up there quick enough. Her sister and I were a bit more tentative. I eventually jumped off the three-metre platform but I can’t say it was a pleasant experience. My niece, on the other hand, enjoyed it as she was relaxed and that’s what it’s all about. My younger niece spent an hour jumping and diving off the one-metre springboard and had a very enjoyable time.

Swimming with seahorses at Watson's Bay Baths

Seahorses like hanging out at Watson's Bay Baths.  Their natural home is seagrass but over the years they have taken a liking to the pool's shark nets. Scuba diver Dave Thomas says they prefer them because it gets them off the ground and away from predators.

"And they can't chase things down, so they rely on food coming to them. They love hanging in the nets while things go past," he said in an article in The Sydney Morning Herald. 

Photo from Underwater Australasia

In 2010 Mr Thomas was involved in temporarily removing the colony of White's seahorses from the nets while the baths were rebuilt. During the construction phase the seahorses, which were named after John White, surgeon-general to the First Fleet, were put on seagrasses. When the work was finished they gravitated back to the new nets that were designed with the seahorses in mind.

Visiting the baths last week I found that the seahorses have a very nice new home with one of the best views in Sydney.  While Watsons Bay was established as a fishing village way back in 1788, the baths had a later beginning. Their life began in 1905 when Vaucluse Council built a shark-proof enclosure to allow safe bathing. Over the years the pool has undergone a number of repairs and upgrades with major work carried out in 1927, 1965, 1975, and most recently in 2010. 

The latest renovation includes a new Olympic-size swimming area with two floating turning boards or sunbathing pontoons, wider new boardwalks and improved seating. The focus of the new, improved pool is on entering the water via ladders and ramps in the deep end so that there is a reduced need to walk over the seagrass in the shallow area. 

Other features include a deep water access ramp for wheelchairs, which is said to be a first for a tidal harbour pool in Australia. Two fully immersible wheelchairs are also available for public use.

If you tire of exploring this expansive salt water space, you can retreat to one of the seats near the entry which are shaded by the shapely trees above. In the pool's early days patrons paid admission of two pence a swim or one shilling a week. Today the pool is free; just open the gate and walk in.

Woollahra Council spent more than $2 million improving this lovely tidal pool. Money well spent, I would say. I think the seahorses would agree.

Country towns, The Castle and Chewton Pool

Avalon Ocean Baths

When you live on the coast you take having somewhere to swim for granted. There's the beach, ocean pools, the harbour, bay baths or the local chlorine complex. But it's a different story in inland Australia, particularly in the smaller towns. The river or lake may be an option but they are not always safe. Only last week a 15-year-old boy nearly drowned near the Wagga Wagga Beach in the Murrumbidgee River.

Spending Christmas at my sister's Riverina property it was great having a pool to dive into and cool off. But not everyone can have a pool in their backyard or on their farm.  And this is where the municipal pool becomes very important.

Maryborough Pool

Driving from Wagga Wagga to the Victorian goldfields area after Christmas we dropped into a number of outdoor pools in medium-sized and small towns. Most of these were built in the 1950s, 60s and early 1970s. In the NSW towns of Jerilderie, Ariah Park and Finley, the local pool was in an attractive garden setting. While the opening hours were more limited than in the days when these towns were thriving, each pool appeared very well-maintained.

Ariah Park Pool

Travelling into Victoria the future of the outdoor pool did not appear as positive. Instead of the usual October to March summer season, most centres were only open from December to February. Opening hours were also limited and on days when the temperature is below 23 degree C outdoor pools in Victoria are closed. Conversely, if it reaches 32 C, the opening hours are extended. Well, that's the theory but not always the practice as patrons at Melbourne's Coburg Pool discovered recently.

Daylesford Pool

Increasingly it appears that councils in Victoria have replaced or plan to replace outdoor pools with a 25-metre indoor aquatic centre that services a number of towns. One place that has been experiencing this policy is Chewton, a town of about 400 people near Castlemaine in Central Victoria. With plans for a new indoor centre in Castlemaine, in 2009 Mount Alexander Shire Council announced that Chewton’s nearly 20-metre pool and smaller learner pool would be closed.

Well, that was the plan. But they didn't count on the passion and fervour of the local people to try and save their pool. Under the catch-cry of 'only fools close pools', since early 2010, the locals have been campaigning to save their 53-year-old centre. They've held rallies, organised petitions, made submissions to council, run fundraising events including the 'Ugly Man' contest, and set up a tent embassy to prevent the pool’s demolition. After a long battle, the pool finally re-opened on 3 December 2010 with the local community (Chewton Pool Inc) as the new managers.

Speaking at the opening, Bendigo West MP, Maree Edwards congratulated the people of Chewton, in particular key campaigner Rose Darling, for being resolute and unwavering in their commitment to keep the pool open.  Likening the fight to the classic ‘Aussie battler’ movie, The Castle, Ms Edwards said anyone who has grown up in a small town knows the value and importance of its local pool.

"Local pools are not just about swimming - they are often the hub of small towns during the summer period. They are the heart and soul of a community that bring people together and that's what keeps communities strong."

Maryborough Pool

Ms Edwards spoke about growing up in nearby Maryborough where the pool was the place to be each summer day of the school holidays.  Maryborough Pool in the central goldfields area is another pool in Victoria that has fought to remain open.  Back in the mid to late 1990s, local woman, Lauris Weir led a successful campaign to keep the 72-year-old art deco beauty open.  As Lauris says:  "Indoor pools don't take the place of the outdoor pool. They are good for exercise but not for having a real, good, old time."

Chewton Pool

While Chewton Pool has been saved, at least for the next three years, I wonder how many other outdoor pools in Victoria are facing a fragile future?

Discovering Coburg Olympic Pool while watching The Slap

Since watching The Slap, the ABC-TV series of Christos Tsiolkas' novel, I have been trying to identify the pool featured in the final episode. Tweets to the ABC didn't produce any answers but my online detective work did.  Googling swimming pools in Melbourne I discovered the Coburg Olympic Pool, which seemed to match the images on The Slap. The Friends of Coburg Pool confirmed my hunch.

While the Coburg Pool is in a lovely leafy setting by Merrri Creek, on The Slap it looked a bit grungy, a little bit neglected. It reminded me of my local, slightly patched-up Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre and a few other pools approaching the half century. Turns out Coburg Pool was threatened with closure in 2006 and was shut for two seasons. A campaign by the Friends of Coburg Pool helped ensure its re-opening in 2008.

As the Save the Coburg Olympic Pool website states, the pool is part of a long history of swimming on the banks of the Merri Creek. The current complex was built in 1965 to replace swimming in the Merri Creek and lake which had become polluted. As well as the 50-metre Olympic pool, there is a children’s pool, a toddler’s pool and a diving pool. Unfortunately the local Moreland City Council demolished the diving towers in October 2008 before assessing their heritage value.

From its beginnings the pool has been closely linked with the suburb’s history of community activism. The pool’s construction was a local community initiative and was made possible by a massive fundraising drive. Activism in the 1990s kept the complex going. While the latest campaign, Save Coburg Olympic Pool, seems to have put a halt to the pool's closure, at least for the time being, hopes that it would be part of Moreland City Council's recent heritage overlay were dashed in June this year.

Back in the mid-1990s when Premier Jeff Kennett reduced the number of local councils from 210 to 78, a number of municipal pools in Victoria were under threat of closure. One of the most notable was Fitzroy Pool, featured in Helen Garner’s novel Monkey Grip. Fortunately the Friends of Fitzroy Pool rallied to save the more than 100-year-old, inner-city icon, which has flourished ever since. 

Coburg Pool's recent battle to remain viable is not an isolated case, particularly in Victoria. Friends in Wangaratta recently told me they were concerned that the council was letting their outdoor pool deteriorate. While the town has an indoor centre, it is only 25-metres and as they say it’s really important to have an outdoor pool for the kids to go to during summer especially in inland places like ‘Wang’.

So I'd say good luck to the Friends of Coburg Pool in getting council to repair and restore your pool and return it to its former glory. Let's hope the council sees sense and allows the pool to continue its vital recreational and social role in the local community. And good luck to any other local outdoor pools across the nation threatened with closure.

And if you are wondering where Coburg is here are a few interesting facts and figures on the Melbourne suburb. It is eight kilometres north of the CBD in the local government area of the City of Moreland. Its most famous landmark is Pentridge Gaol which was recently redeveloped into housing. Some names you might recognise as hailing from Coburg include Raelene Boyle, Ted Egan, Phil Cleary, Rod Quantock and Angry Anderson.

To see Coburg Pool's starring role in The Slap click here. To find out more about Coburg Pool visit the Save Coburg Olympic Pool website.