Public pools as community hubs, clockwise from top left: Kalamunda Water Park, swim lessons for CALD group, the Cockburn ARC and Muslim women at the pool.
Public pools for all Australians
Michelle O’Shea, Megan Stronach and Hazel Maxwell explain the value of swimming pools as accessible community health hubs
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ustralian public swimming pools are significant community assets, and much more than a place to cool off in. The significance of publicly funded pools and their importance to community health and wellbeing often remains unspoken, until closure plans or reduced funding become known to the general public. In the past, usage surveys and cost benefit analysis resulting in pool closures has met with highly emotive displays and passionate pleas such as sit-ins and orchestrated protests. In the early 1990s, the City of Yarra Council’s plans to close the Fitzroy Swimming Pool was met with a vocal and coordinated community driven ‘Save the Pool’ campaign. Community members filled the drained pool and demanded its reopening. Similar and more recent ‘swim-in protests’ and written submissions by residents have ensured the continued operation of Katoomba’s 50-metre outdoor pool. Wave pool on the Darwin Waterfront.
48 Australasian Leisure Management Issue 137
Despite increasing private backyard pool ownership and further highlighting the importance of community aquatic facilities, Royal Life Saving Society - Australia data suggests that there are in excess of 1,700 public swimming pools across Australia and the average Australian visits a local pool more than four times a year - that figure is equal to more than 100 million visits annually. Recently an ABC documentary series, ‘The Pool’, explored how ‘the local pool’ has become a defining part of Australia’s national identity. Pools are a place to seek refuge and cool off during Australia’s baking summer heat. Positioning the pool as a playground, Australians reflected on childhoods spent ‘bombing’ and splashing, remembering especially the taste of ice creams and the smell of hot chips. Incidentally, Aboriginal women and girls in coastal areas of Australia were well known to be excellent swimmers. One favourite pursuit for them was to jump into the water feet-first, bending up the legs and holding the ankles - the women’s version of what we now refer to as ‘bombing’. As well as conjuring nostalgic memories, for other Australians the public pool evokes very different images and emotions. Australian migrants have discussed feelings of otherness and isolation in relation to the ‘pool’ experience. Young women have discussed a sense of being watched; this surveillance by male peers has heightened concerns around appearance. Experiences and reflections illuminated through the book ‘Memory Pool’ further unearth a contested and nuanced pool history. Racial politics, gender, sexuality, disability and religious
