by John Horne
Next month on 2 December 2021 the Blacktown Aquatic Centre celebrates its 60th birthday – it opened in 1961 . Lots of people have fond memories of many hot summer days they spent enjoying the cool waters of the Blacktown Swimming Pool .
Some learned to swim there or took part in swimming carnivals and school sports . Others still use the pool to keep fit . But where did people go before there was a local pool and the ubiquitous backyard pools ?
Years ago there was no pool westwards between Granville and Katoomba . Granville Swimming Pool opened on 10 October 1936 and was only the fourth swimming pool to be built in the whole Sydney Basin .
Bankstown and Enfield had pools that opened in November 1933 and North Sydney ’ s opened in April 1936 . Nearer home , Auburn and Parramatta pools opened in 1959 . Penrith opened in October 1961 and Blacktown in December 1961 .
Public swimming was a big no no for a large part of our history . Before modern times the nineteenth century Victorian code of modesty and privacy dictated how people swam , especially with regard to how they were dressed .
Over the last two hundred years during hot summer months , Blacktown residents found places to cool off in local creeks like Blacktown , Prospect , Toongabbie ,
Local children cooling off in Dorrie ’ s Hole , Eastern Creek , 1960s .
Bungarribee and Eastern . A dip in a neighbour ’ s dam was also always fun on a hot day .
Further afield you could travel to South Creek and the Hawkesbury / Nepean River . Parramatta Lake had its own beach as did the Parramatta River in Parramatta Park . And , there was always the long train , ferry and tram journey to the coast and a beach .
Locals swam in Quinn ’ s Waterhole which was part of Blacktown Creek on the northern side of Seven Hills Railway Station . Baker ’ s Dam or Baker ’ s Hole was near the present site of the Blacktown Aquatic Centre near today ’ s International Peace Park . Locals also swam in the water-filled holes left in tile and brick works .
Creeks and other waterholes were good to cool off but they had their dangers ; poisonous snakes like to take a dip as well ! The idea of sharing a waterhole with one could empty in a flash . Sometimes young people got into difficulties and drowned as was the case in 1952 when local Blacktown boy , Joseph McDonald , aged 16 , tried to swim across a deep waterhole in Eastern Creek .
He disappeared in the middle of a wide pool and couldn ’ t be found for more than ten minutes . When his body was finally dragged out by his rescuers he couldn ’ t be revived . Sadly , back then , over three quarters of the four thousand school-age
Blacktown War Memorial Swimming Pool , 1961 .
children in the Shire of Blacktown couldn ’ t swim . There were no local facilities available to run swimming lessons .
Another potential danger in local creeks and waterholes was disease . In 1935 local boy , Ronald Townsend , was admitted to Parramatta Hospital suffering with typhoid after swimming in a local waterhole . Ear , eye , nose and throat infections were easily contracted from swimming in dirty water .
Blacktown Shire Councillors , business people , school groups and other citizens wanted a local pool built . Several times they tried ( 1935 , 1939 , 1945-46 , 1951 , 1953 ) and finally in the early 1960s the first Blacktown pool was built . Riverstone builder , McNamaras Pty Ltd , won the tender and on 2 December 1961 it was officially opened by Mayor Ashley Brown . The cost of construction was partly funded by citizen groups and Blacktown Council added a special rate of two pennies ( 2 cents ) on council rates , which was a biggish sum of money back then .
The site chosen for the build was an old tip . Prior to that it was a quarry that supplied clay for the brickworks . When it was a tip an elephant from Bullen ’ s Circus died at Francis Park and was buried there .
Many older residents can still remember the smell from the tip that wafted into their homes before the pool was built , and afterwards when land that was to become International Peace Park was still being reclaimed with landfill .
Mr Wilfred Walker ( Fred ) Wilson , the senior bath attendant at Fairfield Municipal Baths , was appointed the manager of the pool in September 1961 . Fred and his family lived on the premises and he remained the manager until the early 1980s .
Who remembers Fred ’ s method of teaching children to swim ? Simply throw them in .
The Blacktown Amateur Swimming Club was formed in October 1961 ; today it ’ s the Blacktown City Swimming Club and it runs classes , training and races for its members .
Probably the most outstanding local
You are welcome to visit our Research Centre , open Tuesdays 10.00 am to 2.00pm , or by appointment .
Grantham Heritage Park BDHS Research Centre 71 Seven Hills Road South , Seven Hills NSW 2147 PO Box 500 Blacktown NSW 2148 Phone 02 9676 1198 www . blacktownhistory . org . au
10 ISSUE 08 // NOVEMBER 2021 theindependentmagazine . com . au BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT