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.

Update on Hobart's abandoned aquatic house

When I wrote a story on Hobart's Douglas Plaister Aquatic House nearly two years it was earmarked for redevelopment into apartments and shops.

Damien Peck, a Hobart-based photographer reports there has been no progress with the redevelopment. The centre remains in a state of disrepair as it has been since it was closed more than 10 years ago. Damien recently spent a couple of hours taking photos at the aquatic house, which you can check out on his Facebook page or on flickr.

Opened in 1938, the two-pool complex was originally called the Hobart Tepid Baths. In 1991 it was renamed after Douglas Plaister, who ran the swimming program at the pool and lived on site for a period of time. He was also Mayor of Hobart from 1976 to 1984.  For many years the Department of Education conducted its swimming program at the pool and thousands of Tasmanians learnt to swim there.

Swimming in champagne at Bermagui's beautiful Blue Pool

Pushed for time and with the weather cool I wasn't going to swim in Bermagui's Blue Pool.  But when I saw it from the lookout above, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. 

Diving into the bluey-green pool I felt like I was entering an exotic cave like the Grotto Azzurra (Blue Grotto) on Italy's Isle of Capri. I have never been to the Blue Grotto but I have a vivid memory of Jackie Kennedy Onassis being rowed in to the cave from photos in The Australia Women's Weekly in the late 1960s and early 70s.  I remember studying the photos and being very attracted to the intense blue water inside the grotto and the mysteriousness and glamour of the place.  At the Blue Pool on the NSW south coast I was taken back to those images.

Despite being enlarged to twice its original size in the late 1930s, this rustic pool retains much of its natural rock pool charm. It curves around the ochre-coloured rock at the bottom of the cliff and its uneven bottom and sides are full of colourful marine life.

When I dived under I was lucky enough to spot a a nudibranch or two, which inhabit the pool.  In March this year as part of Bermagui's Bioblitz a group of snorkellers explored the pool at dusk to identify the fauna that live there as the day turns into night.

The key mover behind the pool's development in the late 1930s was philanthropist Bill Dickinson. Mr Dickinson had relocated to Bermagui in 1935 in his early 60s. A visit to the town's cemetery where he noticed many of the locals lived well into their 80s motivated his move.

One of the many projects he initiated in the town, 378 kilometres south from Sydney, was to turn the Blue Hole as it was originally called into the Blue Pool.  With some financial support from the State Government and local fundraising, and by blasting the rock away with dynamite, the Blue Hole was enlarged into the Blue Pool.  Mr Dickinson paid for concrete steps to replace the steep dirt track that led down to the pool. He also funded concreting the adjoining children's wading pool known as Little Blue Pool.

Recent additions include a new lookout which offers wonderful views of the Blue Pool, and an upgrading of Mr Dickinson's many  steps.  There are change rooms and toilets near the top of Mr Dickinson's steps.

 

Bermagui's Blue Pool is a beautiful spot to swim and snorkel. As Jane Sandilands wrote in the Summer 2011/2012 edition of South Coast Style, "... (it's where) snorkellers search for underwater treasures ... and when the waves wash over at high tide it's like swimming in champagne."

On the day we visited earlier in the year, the water was cold at first but fine once you got in.  I imagine it has freshened up since then but that doesn't stop many of the locals who continue to swim all year-round.

The Blue Pool, off Scenic Drive, is the second most southern of NSW's 100 ocean baths. The most southern pool is at Eden, 94 kilometres south of Bermagui.

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.