Marrickville community salutes a great Australian swimmer

Last Sunday I was asked if I would dress up as Fanny Durack and swim in the Cooks River.  I didn't mind the idea of being Fanny for an hour or two although the woolly swim suit she wore back in 1912 at the Stockholm Olympics was not very attractive. But the idea of swimming in the Cooks River did not appeal.

Fanny Durack image from the National Museum of Australia.

The request came from members of the Cooks River Valley Association, who are campaigning to clean up the inner-Sydney river.  One of their goals is to rehabilitate the polluted waterway so that at least one area is suitable for swimming. In 1916 Fanny Durack gave an exhibition of swimming in the river at the Illawarra Road bridge. Her display was part of a Venetian Carnival held to raise funds for the Australian New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). Dawn Fraser's coach Harry Gallagher also swam in the river, which he writes about in his autobiography, Memoir of a Fox.

Members of the Cooks River Valley Association and the Marrickville Heritage Society were out in force at a Marrickville Council picnic in honour of Fanny Durack in Petersham Park last Sunday. The gathering celebrated 100 years since the one-time Marrickville and Stanmore resident became the first Australian female to win an Olympic gold medal. She achieved the feat in the 110 yards freestyle at the 1912 Stockholm Games.  Fellow Australian Mina Wylie came second. Mina's father started the famous Wylie's Baths at Coogee.

Fanny Durack (left) with Mina Wylie. Image from Mitchell Library (State Library of NSW)

On the eve of the London Olympics Fanny would have been impressed with the turn-out of locals gathering near the pool named in her honour. There was a  great atmosphere at the event with photos and information on Fanny's life story, centenary gold medals, an old-style gramophone man, a sausage sizzle and games and activities for the young and young at heart.

And just back to that request to don the cossie of F. Durack and swim in the dirty old Cooks. Well, I wasn't needed till 2014 and there is one other candidate willing to take on the role. Stay tuned.

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.

Peaceful Petersham Park Pool

Yesterday morning when I went for a walk around the lovely Petersham Park I looked in on the pool. What I discovered was a very peaceful scene of about seven swimmers slowly lapping up and down the 33-metre pool.

With my regular swimming spot - Leichhardt Pool - crowded with holiday-makers at this time of year, I decided to switch to Petersham Pool. I will swim there until everyone goes back to work and order and rhythm is restored to the morning lapping environment at the 50-metre Leichhardt Pool.

Officially known as the Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre, the 48-year-old inner-west complex was renamed after the champion Australian swimmer in 1999. Fanny was the first woman swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal at the 1912 Stockholm Games.  In her latter years she lived in Douglas Street, Stanmore up the hill from the Petersham Park Pool as it was originally called.

While there were a few more than seven swimmers at the pool this morning I had a lane to myself, which made for a very pleasant swim in the somewhat patched-up, ageing pool. At the end of my session I had a nice chat with Uta, visiting from Germany and her daughter Bettina from Stanmore.

As well as swimming laps in the early mornings Bettina takes her children to the inner-west centre. She describes the pool as "a luxury because it's not too crowded". "It's not 50-metres but 33-metres is a good compromise," she adds.

Another swimmer I met recently at the new Annette Kellermann Aquatic Centre at Enmore is also a fan of the slightly grungy Petersham pool. Its appeal to Sue is that it reminds her of the 33-metre pools she swam in as a child growing up in country NSW.

With historic Petersham Park just outside the complex, the centre is surrounded by majestic established trees. On Saturdays during the cricket season the sound of willow on ball by Randwick-Petersham club players adds to the gentile atmosphere.

If you want to experience Petersham Pool in its original state, and 33-metres in length then you will need to drop by before it closes on March 31.  In mid-year it is expected that Marrickville Council will begin work on upgrading the site and redeveloping the main pool into a 25-metre, 8-lane pool. Among a number of additions and changes there will also be a new toddlers' pool and kiosk/cafe. Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre is at 1 Station Street, Petersham, a five minute walk from the station.

The pool in the park at Petersham

Life seems to slow down a pace or two when you enter Petersham Park Pool or rather, Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre, as it was renamed in 1999. Very popular with families with young children, the 48-year-old complex includes a 33-metre pool and a children's wading pool. No one swims particularly fast at this inner west pool but they enjoy diving in and doing a few leisurely laps.

The relaxed mood of the place reflects its location within the grounds of the 123-year-old Petersham Park and oval, where in 1926 18-year-old Don Bradman scored 110 in his first appearance in grade cricket. Some of the old-world charm of the park with its picket fence, bandstand and avenue of trees carries through to the pool. But the pool also has a touch of inner city grunge. On one side old camphor laurel trees overlook the pool; on the other side, the outlook is the backs of ageing terrace houses, one decorated in Buddhist flags.

If Sarah "Fanny" Durack was alive today Petersham Pool would have been her local. She lived up the hill from the pool in Douglas Street, Stanmore. It was her local connection, and that it was considered a scandal that no pool in Australia had been named after the first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming, that Marrickville Council renamed the pool in her honour.

As well as being a record-breaking swimmer, Fanny Durack was one of a number of early 20th century swimmers who developed the Australian crawl stroke, now known as freestyle. Fanny and team-mate Mina Wylie (of Wylie's Baths fame) almost didn't make it to the 1910 Stockholm Olympics as at that time swimming in NSW was strictly segregated. Rose Scott, President of the NSW Ladies Amateur Swimming Association (NSWLASA) said it was immodest for them to appear among men in attire so scant that they would be embarrassed to wear it in their own homes. Fortunately a public outcry and a change of heart among members of the NSWLASA allowed both Fanny and Mina to compete. When Fanny returned victorious from Stockholm she commented that, "the objections to members of both sexes swimming together exists only in this section of the earth, and is strained prudery".

A champion of women's rights, Fanny was at loggerheads with swimming officials at different times in her six-year swimming career in which she held 12 world records. After retiring from the sport in 1918 due to appendicitis, Fanny took up coaching. She would have been very at home at the pool in the park at Petersham. No doubt she could have taught the laid-back swimmers who frequent this pool a technique or two.

Plans are before Marrickville Council to upgrade Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre to replace the 33-metre pool with a 25-metre pool, add a 15-metre program pool, refurbish the foyer and changing rooms and add a new deck and cafe. Stayed tuned.