Day: January 10, 2025

We’re a nation in love with swimming pools. Whether it’s on a hot sunny day when the ocean lets you know who’s boss, or on a cold winter morning when the tame pool tells you to get back in line, these venerable pools are a part of Australian culture and character.

But they are under threat. The pools that make up Sydney’s famous harbour – the ones surrounded by iconic bridges, cliffs and rocks – are closed for a big renovation that will see them shut for two years. The cost of the revamp is soaring, and it’s unlikely councils can recoup the millions needed to make them safe again.

The sdy pools, or sea swimming pools, are a vital part of Sydney’s public swimming infrastructure. They provide a way for people to swim safely near the shore and, according to research commissioned by the Royal Life Saving Society, they are where most of us learn to swim. Every year, 333 million visits are made to Australian public pools. But Australia’s western suburbs are some of the worst served in terms of public aquatic centres, with just one for every 178,960 residents, according to Guardian Australia analysis of council and census data.

In an age where active supervision of kids in and around water is seen as the best way to keep them safe, the sdy pools are no longer as popular as they once were. They’re also a lot more expensive to run. It’s easy to see why politicians are spruiking plans to open up their local sdy pools as election fodder.

Clover Moore, the lord mayor running for a third term in Town Hall, has spruiked her vision of harbour baths at Pyrmont, Elizabeth Bay, Barangaroo, Rushcutters Bay and Glebe foreshore. Her proposal is no pipe dream — cities around the world are turning to their natural harbor assets rather than building more infrastructure, and Sydney has a great opportunity to take advantage of its legendary waters.

At the Bondi boy’s pool, built as the country pulled out of depression and just two years before Sydney would host the 1938 Commonwealth Games, 10-year-old Murray Rose would become a wonder swimmer. The youngster whipped the boys at the pool tagged ‘the wonder pool’ nestled under the famous Bondi Bridge and went on to break a who’s who of Australian swimming records.

In a city that has long prided itself on its egalitarianism, the women-only Bilgola pool may seem like an outlier. But it’s been a fixture since the 1800s and still attracts mothers and daughters, Muslim women in scarves and older ladies who come to soak in the cool salty water and luxuriate in the beauty of a place that could only be Sydney. It’s a reminder that swimming pools are more than just swimming venues, they’re places of memory and reflection. They’re a part of our heritage that shouldn’t be lost.