Swimming

Pool postcard: Municipal pool, Manchester , New Hampshire

2012-01-27T20:17:00.000+11:00

This pool, called Dupont Pool, still exists and is still a municipal pool, open during the summer.

Here are some more recent photos from this site.

Pool postcard: Allegheny State Park, New York

2012-01-26T15:07:00.001+11:00

From the diving platform, this appears to be a more formal pool, but resembling an area called the 'Old Mud Hole'. I found the pictures below at the site Allegany State Park Historical Society. Note that the postcard I have spells it "Allegheny". The photos below are labelled early 1930s, and it looks to be the same era as the postcard.

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Water ballet, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island. New York

2012-01-25T22:46:00.000+11:00

Esther Williams, eat your heart out!

This pool still exists. Apparently it was closed in the summer of 2009 due to economic cutbacks. Up to 10 000 people a day were using it on a weekend day. By 2010 the other pool was also closed. Read more here.

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Watkins Glen State Park, New York

2012-01-24T22:42:00.000+11:00

Here's a You Tube video of the pool

Pool postcard: Riverside Park, Minot North Dakota

2012-01-23T18:37:00.000+11:00

The Minot Visitors and Conention Centre does not list this under the city's recreational swimming facilities, so I guess it doesn't exist any more.

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Coney Island, Cincinnati, Ohio

2012-01-22T20:44:00.000+11:00

The description on the card reads:

"Coney Island, a pleasure resort, is on the Ohio River....its recirculating swimming pool is the largest of its kind."

This pool, called the Sunlite Pool was built in 1925, and measures 200 x 401 feet. It still exists, as can be seen at this link.

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Navarre Park, Toledo, Ohio

2012-01-21T05:00:00.002+11:00

In 2010 it was announced that the Navarre Park pool would open at a date later than other Toledo pools. There seemed to be some controversy about pools in the city, with some being damaged, according to the Toledo Blade. Anyway, I guess this means that a pool still exists in Navarre Park.

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Idora Park, Youngstown, Ohio

2012-01-20T05:00:00.002+11:00

The message on the reverse is dated July 9, 1942.

Idora Park was an amusement park built by Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company and opened in 1899.

The swimming pool was filled in in the 1950s and the space used for children's rides.

The amusement park went into decline in the 1970s when one of Youngstown's largest steel mills closed. In 1984 it was devastated by fore, and closed. Another fire in 2001 was its final chapter. The site is owned by a Pentecostal church.

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Public swimming pool, Erie Pennsylvania

2012-01-19T05:12:00.002+11:00

The reverse of the card shows that it was postmarked at Erie Oct ? 1910.

The message reads:

Erie, Pa Oct 2.

Dear cousin Paulina and all, I will drop a line hoping this finds you people well. We are having nice weather here so far. Helen has been out of school for two weeks but expects to go tomorrow. Love from us to you all. cousin Tracie & all.

Addressee:

Miss Paulina Eggert
Sag ?? East Side
547 south 12th
Michigan

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Hershey Park swimming pool, Hershey Pennsylvania

2012-01-18T06:00:00.009+11:00

The information on the reverse of the card reads:

"Hershey teaches its employees not only how to work but how to play. In Hershey Park there is ecevry facility for indoor and outdoor sport. The Hershey Park pool, with its fifty-foot coaster, will accommodate several thousand bathers."

Hershey Park (now called Hersheypark) was founded in 1907 by Milton S. Hershey, as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company. It is now a full scale amusement park.

On this blog, Hershey Community Archives, we learn that the first concrete pool was constructed in 1911, and a few years later the pool was enlarged the wooden toboggan ride, visible in the postcard was added. The postcard seems to date from that era.

In 1929 a new pool complex (circular baby pool, diving poool, swimming pool and wading pool) was added. From the pool you could hear the great bands in the adjacent Ballroom - the likes of Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Harry James.

The pool was closed following the 1971 summer season. Today all that remains is an ornamental lighthouse.

I think this is also an interesting artefact from the days of "corporate towns", when the company provided for the welfare of its employees, rather along the lines of Robert Owen's early vision in New Lanark, or the Port Sunlight (built by the Lever Borthers of Sunlight Soap fame) in England.

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

Pool postcard: Community swimming pool, Farquhar Park, York, Pennsylvania

2012-01-17T18:40:00.000+11:00

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you! At the International Swimming Hall of Fame website, I learned the following about this pool:

"The Farquhar Park Pool opened Thursday, July 8, 1922, in York, Pennsylvania. The Community Swimming Pool Association, a private group, was the owner. Following the opening of the swimming pool, The White Rose Amusement Park opened adjacent to it, long before Disney World, Six Flags, Hersheypark and other gigantic amusement havens of the current age.

The park had everything an amusement park required -- plus a huge dancing facility, White Rose Crystal Ball Room. Within the open-air structure was a restaurant. No bars in those days of prohibition. The dance hall was oval-shaped with a high ceiling. Top flight orchestras provided music as the big band era was just getting under way.

In the late 1940’s, the pool was at the center of a racial controversy, as African Americans and other non-whites sought equal access to public areas. Rather than allow non-whites to swim, community leaders chose to close the pool. "

I found that in 2007 it was operated by the YMCA, so guess it must have re-opened at some stage! I found a subsequent (undated) article in the York Daily Record which stated that "The $9.1 million YMCA Graham Aquatic Center, which replaces York's Farquhar Park Pool, will open June 12."

Pool postcard: 'Swimming Pool, City Park, Parkersburg, West Virginia'

2012-01-16T21:07:00.003+11:00

I collect vintage postcards of swimming pools. I plan to post one a day as far as possible. If you know any of these places, especially the fate of the pool, I'd love to hear from you!

This site tells me the following (dated June 12, 2007)

"Eager swimmers only have a couple of weeks until they can dive into the newly renovated City Park Pool.

This is the first renovations on the Parkersburg pool since it opened in 1937.

The bath house has new shower fixtures, a new roof, and a fresh coat of paint.

The concrete floors now have a fresh face of tile.

Mayor Bob Newell says the renovations were much needed as leaks caused the pool to lose 3.6 million gallons of water during the summer season.

City Park Pool will be complete and ready for swimmers to splash in the first week of July. "

Blue Pool, Bermagui 2 Jan 2012

2012-01-15T23:35:00.000+11:00

Christmas Day: two swims

2011-12-26T21:56:00.000+11:00

After weeks of cool and wet weather, Christmas Day was bright, sunny and hot. We headed off to Little Bay for a swim in the morning. In the afternoon I went to McIvers Ladies Baths at Coogee.

McIvers:

Bexley pool update

2011-12-15T15:30:00.002+11:00

At the Rockdale Council meeting on Wed 7 Dec, a unanimous decision was made to go ahead with the next phase of the pool re-development: commuity engagement. Consultation feedback is called for, starting Dec 13 and running to early March 2012.

As Mark Hanna, spokesperson for the pool supporters' said:

"After three solid years of intense lobbying, petitions and meeting attendance, we finally have something concrete to comment on. I cannot stress enough how important it is to flood council with favourable feedback on the proposed concept plans and facility mix."

All the information is available at the Rockdale Council website:

http://www.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/Council_Projects/Pages/Projects_BexleySwimming.aspx

Alternatively, they have set up a special email address for feedback as well. The email address is bexpool@rockdale.nsw.gov.au

The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader carries a front page story on the proposed upgrade. People can also go onto their site and make comments. Here is the link: http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/new-life-for-bexley-pool/2390133.aspx

This is our chance to get this project over the line and secure the long term future of Bexley Pool. Please help by providing positive feedback. Without this upgrade, the future of Bexley Pool remains highly uncertain.

Pictures are courtesy of architects TompkinsMDA. Look at the link to see their other aquatic centre designs.

Bexley pool: proposal for re-development

2011-12-02T16:53:00.003+11:00

Those of you who follow this blog regularly will know about my love affair with my local pool, Bexley Swimming Centre. You can catch up with previous blogs about Bexley by clicking that link.

There's been a community drive led by regular pool users to have the local Council attend to serious concerns about the viability of the centre. The fact that it is one of Sydney's "best kept secrets" - an under-utilised facility in a beautiful almost bushland setting which is a year-round suntrap is not enough to ensure that it remains as a public amenity into the future.

The tenacity of the leaders of the campaign is most admirable. It has taken many rounds of lobbying, addressing Council meetings and attendance at reference group meetings to reach a situation where a concrete propsal to emerge.

What has been presented is magnificent, as the illustrations show.

Pictures are courtesy of architects TompkinsMDA. Look at the link to see their other aquatic centre designs.

The report says that at the moment there are 130 000 visits a year, each of which is "subsidised" at $3.02 (I have a little trouble with this concept - a public amenity is what people pay rates for....but I digress....). It is estimated that the re-developed facility would atttract 541 000 annual visits, at a subsidy of $0.79 per visit.

The design concept has: a new outdoor 50m pool with seating and shade and an indoor facility containing an 8 lane 25m pool, a learn to swim and warm water exercise pool, a children's play pool, a spa and sauna and 700sq m of dry fitness space with a gym and group exercise rooms. It would also have a creche, children's party room, kiosk and amenities.

A quantity surveyor has estimated the cost at $26.81 million.

Several recommendations which progress the concept will go to Council next Wednesday. Read the full report here. Below are drawings accompanying the report.

Current layout

Proposed overview

More detail of proposed indoor facility

Indoor and outdoor pools

Sydney's Ocean Baths - Ian Swift

2011-12-01T22:36:00.000+11:00

The colourful elephant sculpture is called Extreme Surfing. It is by Katoomba artist, Ian Swift, and was on display in this year's Sculpture By The Sea exhibition, which takes place annually along the walk between Bondi and Tamarama beaches in Sydney.

I had a look for more of Swift's work, and came across the catalogue for an exhibition held in 2005 called Sydney's Ocean Baths (above). I am captivated by these works, and have ordered a catalogue.

Below are his representations of two of my favourite Sydney ocean pools: McIver's Women's Pool at Coogee, and Mahon Pool at Maroubra.

You can browse more of his works here.

Mahon Pool, Maroubra

McIvers (Women's pool), Coogee

Public swimming pools NSW Central West and South

2011-05-30T21:28:00.000+10:00

Swimming has been part of the Australian consciousness for a long time. In the late 19th century swimming baths were built in capital cities (see Melbourne City Baths, for example). Rock pools were built along the Sydney coast as job creation schemes during the Great Depression. Modern aquatic centres are built as major competition venues.

And after the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, a golden age of community building resulted in almost every town council and its citizens striving for a community pool, and 50m Olympic pools spread across the suburbs of major cities (I blog regularly about Bexley pool for example, opened in the 1970s).

My mate John travels for work around the towns of the NSW Central West and Riverina, and is partial to a swim. Here's a collection of snaps he's taken of various swimming venues.

Albury Swim Centre, February 2011

Canowindra February 2011 "At midday I was the first swimmer for the day"

Cowra. "28 degree water temp is no good for me. Nice complex though. Toddlers pool is under cover."

Gulgong. May 2011

Tumbarumba February 2011 "Very clear, delightfully cool water."

Tumut March 2011

Wodonga. Feb 2011. This has been closed down - outrageous!

Young February 2011

Swimming travellers

2011-05-29T11:44:00.000+10:00

I love it when I read about someone else who seeks out swimming spots when travelling.

This piece was in the travel section of the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday.

See my pictures of the pool mentioned - click here.
See my pictures of Barceloneta and the beach - click here.

Best of Barcelona: master strokes

May 28, 2011

Tower and arch ... the sculpture Homentage a la Barceloneta, by Rebecca Horn, on the foreshore. Photo: Getty Images

The best of Barcelona is revealed when Liz Porter indulges her passion for swimming and architecture.

Late on a Friday afternoon, I'm swimming slowly beside Barceloneta, the main beach of Barcelona, looking back at cafes filling with locals making a start on their weekend. But my eyes are drawn to the golden shimmering scales of a giant fish, just above the shoreline, a few hundred metres further along the beach. This 35-metre by 54-metre fantasy in steel lattice and copper is the work of the celebrated American architect Frank Gehry, creator of Bilbao's famous Guggenheim. One of a clutch of artworks and buildings commissioned from foreign architects and artists in preparation for the 1992 Olympic Games, it stands in front of the Port Olimpic skyscraper, Hotel Arts, designed as the flagship hotel for the Games - and now famous for its luxurious 43rd-floor spa.

I'm not just swimming. Rather, I'm doing the aquatic version of a sightseeing promenade. A "swimenade"? It works well, even if it means doing the ungainly head-out-of-water breaststroke favoured by women who want to swim without getting their hair wet.

Mies van der Rohe's showpiece pavilion. Photo: AFP

But what kind of lunatic, some might wonder, would visit Barcelona - city of magnificent contemporary art galleries, phantasmagorical Gaudi architecture, uber-cool bars in mediaeval alleyways - and then go to the beach?

Finding a place to swim, no matter where I go, is my personal eccentricity but I recommend it to anyone. Breaking a culture-rich city holiday with a dip is a guaranteed delight, even for tourists who are neither lap counters nor ocean racers at home. Swimming soothes feet that are tired from shuffling through churches and it calms brains that are overloaded with snippets of cultural information from gallery walls and audio guides- or overheard when eavesdropping at the back of tour groups with their own gallery guide.

Swimming offers the privilege of mixing with a city's inhabitants on equal terms. It's also an opportunity to examine the cultural differences expressed in national swimming habits. In German pools, for example, swimming without a bathing cap is "strengst verboten". Berlin's pool culture permits people to swim two abreast, paddling a slow breaststroke while talking - a lack of respect for the concept of "lanes" that is, well, un-Australian.

One day, we take the funicular railway, part of the city's metro system, to Montjuic, a flat-topped hill that is the site of an Olympic stadium and of a clutch of extraordinary galleries. These include the grand Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, or National Art Museum of Catalonia (known as MNAC) and architect Mies van der Rohe's pavilion, an achingly elegant symphony of light, air, marble and glass that he built as Germany's showpiece for the 1929 World Exhibition.

Dismantled afterwards, it was rebuilt in 1986 and is a compulsory stop on every architect's European pilgrimage (Avenue Francesc Ferrer i Guardia 7; miesbcn.com/en/pavilion.html).

There's also the Fundacio Joan Miro, housing the huge collection of work given by the artist to his home town. Today, its temporary exhibition is Dawn Chorus, a video installation by eccentric English artist Marcus Coates, for which he has recorded birdsong, slowed it down so professional singers could learn the component notes, filmed them singing it and then sped up the film again, with hilarious and intriguing results.
Afterwards, the lush greenery of Montjuic's gardens is a tonic for gallery-tired eyes - perhaps the tulips and water lilies of the Jardins de Mossen Cinto de Verdaguer, specialising in bulbs and water plants, or the collection of plants from around the world at the Jardi Botanic.

Predictably, I opt to swim. The city's diving pool is closed; with its panoramic views of the city, it was admired by a global television audience in 1992 and featured in the video for Kylie Minogue's 2003 hit Slow. So we walk instead to Montjuic's Piscines Bernat Picornell, built in 1970, renovated for the Olympics and featuring interesting cultural differences: a Saturday-night session, topless sunbathing beside the outdoor pool and horizontally strung lanes in the indoor Olympic pool (Avinguda Estadi, 30-38).

On our itinerary is the 18th-century convent that houses Museu Picasso, with its collection of the early representational work created before the artist became a cubist (Carrer Montcada 15-23; www.museupicasso.bcn.cat/en). I'm thrilled to find Picasso's Barceloneta Beach, painted in 1896, showing my new favourite beach with donkeys on the sand, fishermen's cottages where the cafes now stand and smoking chimney stacks of factories of the neighbouring suburb of Poblenou in the background. At five in the afternoon, I'm back there for a late dip.

We're renting a renovated, shuttered studio apartment in a picturesquely narrow street in the Gothic El Born area, one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods. The 14th-century Santa Maria del Mar cathedral is less than 100 metres away and we're eating the best tapas we've ever had at Bubo, on the edge of its square (Caputxes 10; bubo.ws). We later discover that The New York Times was talking up Bubo's grilled eggplant and fetta - and its exquisite jewel-like cakes - in 2007. But so what? We stumble across it on our first night, after a week in Britain with its chain-run eateries, and we're thrilled.

It's a residential area so we can buy good bread and the finest jamon iberico at shops around the corner. We can stroll to the markets of La Boqueria on La Rambla and the Santa Caterina market, with its wavy multicoloured roof and chic tapas bar. But, best of all, Barceloneta is only 10 minutes' walk from our apartment.

Many snooty bloggers deride this beach and all the others in the immediate area, from Port Olimpic to Bogatell and Mar Bella, insisting that the closest beach worth visiting is at Sitges, a charming resort 40 kilometres south-west of Barcelona, with whitewashed houses, steep winding alleys and a baroque church overlooking the water. We dutifully take the 45-minute train trip to Sitges, arriving on the last day of its annual October film festival (and we discover that film-festival queues look the same as they do in Australia). In fact, the Australian thriller-western Red Hill is screening when we arrive but we choose to stroll along the waterfront instead - and, of course, to swim.

So I remain faithful to Barceloneta. It's a city beach, to be judged by city-beach standards. The clarity of its 21-degree water in late summer is no worse than Melbourne's Brighton beach or Sydney's Redleaf. Better than that, Barceloneta is a beach with a story: a key chapter in the dramatic transformation of the city for the 1992 Olympics.

Another giant beachside sculpture draws me into this narrative. Homenatge a la Barceloneta is a leaning tower of steel boxes with glass windows erected on the sand at Barceloneta, just a stone's throw from a seafood restaurant called Can Majo, which we later visit after reading a foodie website's recommendation that it has the best paella in the city (Almiral Aixada 23; canmajo.es).

The work of the German sculptor Rebecca Horn, Homenatge is a tribute to the ramshackle beach bars and cafes swept away when the beach area was redeveloped for the Games. The choice of subject matter might suggest a critical attitude by the artist but Barcelona residents appear to have been thrilled by an urban transformation that turned the city's face to the water and gave them somewhere to sail, windsurf and swim.
Before the Games, Barcelona had sea but no "beach" in the sense that other Mediterranean cities understand it. Before 1992, Barceloneta was regarded as edgy and slightly dangerous. Gypsies camped on the beach at night and locals came only for the boxy little beach bars set up on the sand. A railway line ran close by, cutting off the adjacent area of Poblenou, then full of disused factories and derelict housing, from the rest of the city. It also cut the city off from the beach.

The Olympic Games makeover, masterminded by socialist mayor Pasqual Maragall, brought marinas, new housing, luxury restaurants with suede couches on their beachside terraces and a bayside promenade, ideal for cycling and new housing. Sand was trucked in to build up a planned three kilometres of beach, which increased to five. The railway line was torn up and the tracks moved underground.

Now, the southern end of Poblenou, once the site of the Olympic village, is the residential area of Port Olimpic. Like the rest of the city, it's dotted with the work of the world's most fashionable architects, including French architect Jean Nouvel's 38-storey Torre Agbar, headquarters of the local water supply company and nicknamed the "Gherkin".

Like most visitors, we spend hours absorbing the whimsy of Barcelona's genius son, Antoni Gaudi, visiting his technicoloured Park Guell and touring his Casa Batllo and La Pedrera apartment blocks. But we are also captivated by the work of his fellow modernista (or Catalan art nouveau) architects such as Josep Puig i Cadalfalch, creator of such urban Gothic fantasies as the Casa de les Punxes (1903-5), a turreted castle that occupies a whole block and now houses offices; and Lluis Domenech i Montaner.

There are daily tours of Montaner's Palau de la Music Catalana, with its fevered interior of flying horses and sculpted roses (Carrer del Palau de la Musica 4, El Born; www.palaumusica.org). But we take it in at leisure, listening to a Bulgarian symphony orchestra concert here. We walk past the gorgeous Gran Teatre del Liceu, destroyed by fire in 1994 and rebuilt in 1999 to the 1861 plans, with the addition of such new technology as an electronic libretto system offering most seats a choice of English, Spanish and Catalan surtitles on small screens. Bizet's Carmen is playing and for an eye-watering €184 ($244) each we buy seats - in a burgundy velvet-lined box - for enfant terrible director Calixto Bieito's radical staging of the opera, with 1980s costumes and male nude scene.

We also visit i Montaner's Casa Fuster, the luxury hotel featured in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and have a drink in a foyer bar that preserves the original 1908 decor (Passeig de Gracia 132).
Like most tourists, we're besotted by the city's historic buildings. But the locals are more inclined to line up to see modern architect-designed interiors.

On Sunday afternoon, as we dawdle along Passeig de Gracia, on our way to Gaudi's Casa Batllo, we spot what looks like a queue of film-festival types outside the Mandarin Hotel. It's an open day to inspect the interior, the work of Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola. Later the same day, we pass a similar queue of interior-architecture fans outside Casa Camper, a boutique hotel near the university and designed by the company behind the well-known shoes.

I decide to do what the Barcelonans do. I take a personal tour of the 42nd and 43rd floor of the Hotel Arts, visiting the Six Senses spa for a massage and a dip in its warm plunge pool-with-a-view (Marina 19-21; hotelartsbarcelona.com). Afterwards I sit in my pristine white hotel dressing gown, sipping a cup of ginger tea, served with one shiny date and one dried fig, and stare down at sailboats skimming across the glittering blue of the Mediterranean. Far below me a solitary swimmer paddles along the shoreline. Someone else on a "swimenade", perhaps.

Singapore Airlines has a fare to Barcelona for about $1980 low-season return from Melbourne and Sydney including tax. You fly to Singapore (8hr), then Barcelona (13hr 35min there and 12hr 50min return).

Henry Scott Tuke

2011-05-29T10:37:00.000+10:00

Born 12 June 1858 in York, died 13 March 1929 in Falmouth, Cornwall.

His family moved to Falmouth in Cornwall in 1859, where his father practiced medicine. (His father specialised in psychiatry and campaigned for the humane treatment of the insane. His family were social activists.

Harry spent long summer days swimming and on the beach. He engaged in nude sea bathing throughout his life.

Tuke drew and painted from an early age, and trained at the Slade school and in Italy and Paris. He settled in Cornwall.

The Bathers 1888

Three Companions

August Blue 1893

Boys Bathing 1907

Boys Bathing 1908

Boys Bathing 1912

Ruby Gold and Malachite 1902

The Bather 1924

More about Tuke in Wikipedia.

I first "met" Tuke in the opening passage of Charles Sprawson's book Haunts of the Black Masseur:

" I learnt to swim in India, in a pool donated to the school by the Edwardian cricketer Ranjitsinhji. I was the only English boy in the school. My father was the headmaster, and Sir K.S Ranjitsinghji, the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, its most eminent old-boy, though he was only one prince among many there. Sometimes his successor allowed us to bathe in the flooded subterranean vaults of his palace nearby, among columns that disappeared mysteriously into black water. On the walls of the palace above there still hung Tuke's paintings of bathing boys that the Jam Saheb had collected during his cricketing years in England." (Sprawson p1-2)

Famous swimmers: Edward II

2011-05-28T18:58:00.000+10:00

Much maligned, and apparently seriously misrepresented in Mel Gibson's movie, Braveheart, Edward II was born at Caernarvon on 25 April 1284 and died, murdered (probably at the behest of his wife and her lover) at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire on 21 September 1327.

Edward was entirely unconventional. His long-term lover was a man, Piers Gaveston. His interests were un-kingly, ranging from rowing, estate management (including digging his own ditches), music and swimming.

He liked mixing it with common people, and according to a written source "spent a month swimming and rowing in the Fens in 1315 ....with a great company of common people.”⁽Flores Historiarum, ed. H. R. Luard, vol. iii (1890), p. 165.)

Swimming was considered far less than appropriate for a King, and was not a common activity.

I wonder how he learned, and what motivated him?

I first read about Edward II's swimming proclivities in this book, Haunts of the Black Masseur: the swimmer as hero, by Charles Sprawson (1992). I'll do a review and separate blog entry on this book at some time

Cassis (June 2008)

2011-05-28T17:07:00.001+10:00

Cassis is a gorgeous, relatively sleepy (though frenetic in high summer I believe) fishing town east of Marseille. We went there for a boat trip around Les Calanques, deeply incised cliffs. I loved the whole atmosphere of Cassis and would very much like to return for an extended period. Perhaps in retirement? With longer to linger, there are many walks in the area that would be worth doing. It seemed a perfect place to be on a deliciously warm late spring day, and the water wasn't TOO cold for a swim!

Above: Cap Canaille, the highest maritime cliffs on the Mediterranean.

Above: Swimming in the enclosure at Cassis Beach - that's Ben and Nathalie standing, and I'm "surfing" in to shore

Above: Post swim nap on the beach

Above: Racing off onto a pedalo

Above: The beach and facilities. The beach was REALLY hard to walk on because it is all fine pebbles that you sink into at every step

Above and Below: One the chief attractions of Cassis is the voat trips around "Les Calanques". This is Calanque En-Vau, perhaps the most beautiful of all. Other than getting a private boat there, and swimming off the boat, you can walk; it's about an hour from Cassis.

Late autumn swimming at Bexley

2011-05-22T17:10:00.000+10:00

There's nothing like some gorgeous late autumn weather to lift the spirits. The water temperature at Bexley Pool today was 25 degrees, the air temperature hot 23. I took advantage of the benign conditions for a swim. A great way to iron the crinkles out.

This amazing community facility is worth fighting to save. The recent community campaign means it at least remains on Rockdale Council's priority list for maintenenace and development. What is needed is a SUPPLEMENTARY (but not substitute) indoor facility like at Roselands and Sans Souci. That would mean winter lessons and hydrotherapy, aquarobics etc could take place, generating more use for the pool, and ensuring survival of the 50m outdoor pool for lappers like the band of enthusiastic regulars, and casual swimmers who frequent this place year round, looking for health and fitness.

Missing you already

2011-04-25T16:18:00.000+10:00

With the rainy, cool weather in the past few days, I haven't been able to swim outdoors for a while. I miss it. An inside "gym swim" just isn't the same! He4re's hoping for some nice sunny and warm late autumn days to come - just like this one.

The future of Bexley pool is under a bit of a cloud. It urgently needs a large investment, as it is leaking 20 000 litres a day, and though open year round, needs some indoor facilities for lessons and leisure swimming over winter. So far Rockdale Council has not committed the necessary funding. As well, the current management has been replaced....all very murky indeed.

Read more here:
Prospects for Bexley pool remain a mystery
Bexley pool operator sacked
Bexley pool users back operator

Helen Pitt - They never told me ... I wasn't a champion (Sydney Morning Herald 12 Jan 2011)

2011-04-11T22:50:00.001+10:00

Above: My Safe Swimmer Certificate, 1967. Seemingly lost are my "Intermediate Star" and "bronze Medallion" awards!

The following piece appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald's Summer section on Wed 12 January 2011. I couldn't find it on-line to link to, so quote it in full here.

I love this article because I identify with a few points in it:

Though I never swam competitively, I have had a lifelong love of swimming, since I stood a little way off from kids who were being taught in private lseesons at the local pool, and followed what they did and taught myself
I too see swimming as "therapy' and swim through all sorts of emotional turmoil. It clears the mind in a meditative way and sometimes a solution will find its way into my head
I had parents who never believed in limiting their daughters and encouraged their every endeavour. There was no sense of girls being limited in my house!

They never told me. . . I wasn't a champion

by Helen Pitt

"Like many Sydneysiders, Olympic swimming coach Forbes Carlile taught me to swim. One whiff of a heated, chlorinated pool today takes me immediately back to the indoor pool in the backyard of his Ryde home, where he and his wife, Ursula, taught legions of us tadpoles, dolphins and turtles to master our strokes. He's of course best known for his star student, Shane Gould - whom he coached to triple Olympic gold medal status and who is the only person to hold the world record in all freestyle distances from 100 metres to 1500 metres. I doubt he'd even remember but I remember him and his shock of jet-black hair following us up and down the pool. My Carlile-endorsed two laps of dog paddle certificate took pride of place on my bedroom noticeboard for many years.

Thanks to the benefit of a backyard pool, swimming became my favourite sport - the only one I was ever any good at. I made it to the area and district school finals in freestyle and breaststroke on several occasions. Not only did it become my sport; swimming became my preferred form of therapy. There's no sadness I haven't been able to swim myself out of; there was no homesickness a few laps of Australian crawl wasn't able to cure during the many years I lived outside this country.

As the big man of swimming, Mr Carlile, who turns 90 this year, said, 'to swim well is an asset for life." It's an asset that has certainly served me well.

But he also said something on our last day of swimming lessons that I didn't hear. I must have been barely six. As I was getting out of the pool, he gave a deep sigh and said to my mother: "Take her home - she's as good as she's ever going to get."

My mother never told me this. She wasn't going to let my swimming career be eclipsed by his dire predictions. Instead, she let me loose on the backyad swimming pool, cheered me on at every swimming carnival and packed our tiny Morris Mini Minor with other young swimmers to go to swim meets all over Sydney where we could compete and display our prowess. I've often wondered if she did this to spite him, though I doubt it. She was just never a woman who was going to let her daughter be told anything that was in any way self-limiting or had the words "this is as good as you are ver going to get."

It wasn't until I hit my 40s and had a lifetime of swimmign cerificates to vouch for my competence in the pool that my mum told me what Mr Carlile had said. Frankly I was shocked and glad I didn't know at the time. I have often thought to write to him tell him he was wrong: I did become a better swimmer.

I don't blame him, though. I was probably pretty hopeless when he trained me. I've come to see this story as less of a random comment, or maybe, a joke from an exhausted swim coach and more a parable on parenting: don't necessarily let the experts tell you about the talents of your child; instead, stand back and let them show you. And never underestimate the power of findign somethign you love and practising to improve. Which is how it's been for me and swimming; it's been one of the most endurign love affairs of my life.

As I watch my mother slip into an Alzheimic fog, forgetting names, daes, places and people, I know there are many things she'll never be able to tell me now. But I've become grateful for the things she purposedly never told me. Sometimes, being a good parent is about the things you don't tell your children. "

Below: Malvern Baths in 1927. Little changed 40 years later when I earned the Safe Swimming Certificate there.

Below: Mum would sit on this grass or one of these benches when I was very young - 4, 5 - cavorting in the water. Later, by the time I was 8 or 9 I was going to the pool with my friends on our own. As the best swimmer, I was often "in charge".

Famous Swimmers: Benjamin Franklin

2011-04-10T18:50:00.001+10:00

Illustration above: found at Picture book directory of children's illustration. This picture is by David Austin Clar. I am sorry I could not contact you to seek permission to use the image, but am happy to do so if you see this and leave me a message.

Yes, that Ben Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, author and printer, political theorist, politicia. postmaster, scientist, inventor, satirist, civic activist, diplomat, anti-slaver. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.

He was also an enthusiastic, proselytising swimmer and inventor of a prototype hand paddle / swim-fin.

Franklin is recognised in the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The entry on him includes the following information:

" Benjamin Franklin was a competent swim coach and teacher; he advised on water safety, lifeboat rescue escape from shipwrecks, and the advisability of universal learn-to-swim classes.
One of United States first "ornamental swimmers", on a Thames River excursion in 1726, he swam from Chelsea to Blackfriars (3½ miles) 'performing on the way many feats of activity, both upon and under water, that surprised and pleased those to whom they were novelties'.

Ben wrote about his swim fins:

"When I was a boy, I made two oval palettes, each about 10" long and 6" broad, with a hole for the thumb in order to retain it fast in the palm of my hand. They much resembled a painter's palette. In swimming, I pushed the edges of these forward and I struck the water with their flat surfaces as I drew them back. I remember I swam faster by means of these palettes, but they fatigued my wrists. I also fitted to the soles of my feet a kind of sandals, but I was not satisfied with them because I observed that the stroke is partly given by the inside of the feet and the ankles, and not entirely with the soles of the feet.

Franklin as swimming teacher:

According to the Hall of Fame entry, Franklin wrote:

' 'Tis supposed that every parent would be glad to have their children skilled in swimming, if it might be learnt in a place chosen for its safety and under the eye of a careful person . . .'tis some advantage besides, to be free from the slavish terrors many of those feel who cannot swim, when they are obliged to be on the water even in crossing a ferry.'

"Franklin was also a competent coach and teacher. He taught his friend Wygate and a friend to swim 'at twice going into the river' but turned down an offer by Sir William Wyndham to open the first American swim school in England. He was homesick and returned to Philadelphia where among other things, he proposed that all commonwealth schools should have swimming programs.

Max Connors - Seachange

2011-04-10T18:17:00.001+10:00

Like Andrea Camilleri's Sicilian detective, Salvo Montalbano, Max Connors is a swimmer. Like Salvo, he swims through his troubles.

In Series 2, episode 5, after his wife dies, Max can only seek solace in swimming. In fact it also brings him closer to his father, a former champion swimmer.

Swimming in Turkey July - August 1989

2011-03-31T23:15:00.000+11:00

Unlike Byron, I have never swum the Hellespont (and am not likely to!) - nor for that matter from the Lido in Venice and all the way up the Grand Canal. The Hellespont is the narrow channel known now as the Dardanelles, the narrow channel connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

On swimming the Hellespont, on May 3, 1810, Byron wrote:

'I plume myself on this achievement more than I could possibly do any kind of glory, political, poetical or rhetorical.'

I have however, swum in a number of places in Turkey, and here they are.

The BLACK SEA at TERME
20 July 1989

Looks a bit dull, but the water was fantastic and we enjoyed the swim. Really nice body surfing waves.

AKDAMAR ISLAND in LAKE VAN, Eastern Turkey
28 July 1989

"The origin and meaning of the island's name is unknown, but is often attributed to an old Armenian legend. According to the tale, an Armenian princess named Tamar lived on the island and was in love with a commoner. This boy would swim from the mainland to the island each night, guided by a light she lit for him. Her father learned of the boy's visits. One night, as she waited for her lover to arrive, he smashed her light, leaving the boy in the middle of the lake without a guide to indicate which direction to swim. They say his dying cries of "Akh, Tamar" (Oh, Tamar) can be heard to this day at night." (Wikipedia)

So the origin of its name may lie in swimming.

On the road from KÂHTA to MT NEMRUT
30 July 1989

A very welcome stop at a restaurant / camping site on a long and dusty trip to Mount Nemrut. Not sure of its name but it could be Damlacık

KAYA CAMPING, GÖREME, CAPPADODOCIA
2 August 1989

A lazy day, poolside. Aaaaaaaaaaaah.

SIDE
4 August 1989

After weeks inland, our first sight of the Mediterranean was at Side, where we rushed into the beautiful water and enjoyed a swim in the sea.

BELDIBI on the MEDITERRANEAN with the TAURUS MOUNTAINS in the background.

4 August 1989

A pebbly shore, backed by sand, right at our campsite. Beautiful swimming in calm, crystal clear, warm Mediterranean waters.

Beach between Beldibi and Demre (Myra)
5 August 1989

I don't know the name of this beach, but it was beautiful. Entrance was 500 Turkish Lire, but that bought a deck chair. That gorgeous, crystal clear water again.

KAPUTAŞ between Kaş and Kalkan - BLUE COVE
6 August 1989

The most exquisite beach. The road crosses a mountain gorge. Below the bridge is this beautiful cove, reached by stairs from the road.

PAMUKKALE ('Cotton Castle')
7 August 1989

Not really swimming, though people used to. Due to drought, there was not much water in this area of hot springs and travertine terraces. The ancient city of Hierapolis was founded in the 2nd century BC as a thermal spa. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Area, and you can no longer walk over it any more like we did, nor immerse yourself in the waters.

I am glad; when we visited, they were a very big disappointment - littered with cigarette butts and a grey, dirty site. Now, apparently , they have returned to their pristine, gleaming white natural state. The terraces are formed from calcium bicarbonate carried in the spring water.

PAMUKKALE - Swimming in the ancient SACRED POOL
7 August 1989

In the grounds of what was the Pamukkale Motel (now a thermal centre) is the ancient Sacred Pool, warmed by hot springs and littered with underwater fragments of ancient marble columns. It is possibly associated with the Temple of Apollo. It was amazing swimmign around over anceinet ruins! During the Roman period, columned porticoes surrounded the pool; earthquakes toppled them into the water where they now lie.

This is where the spring that feeds the mineral pools of Pamukkale originates.

Swimming

2011-03-26T09:41:00.000+11:00

"To plunge into water, to move one's whole body in its wild and graceful beauty, to twist about in its pure depths, this is for me a delight only comparable to love." - Paul Valéry

Swimming from Ancient Rome to Christianity

2011-03-24T17:58:00.000+11:00

Sculpture of a mermaid found at a Roman fort near Fors Abbey at Bainbridge in Yorkshire, England.

One of my favourite books about swimming is Haunts of the Black Masseur : the Swimmer as Hero, by Charles Sprawson. I love his chapter on 'Classical Waters' (in Ancient Greece and Rome).

Sprawson tells us that in ancient Rome swimming was associated with sensuality and, eventually, as Emperors built ever more luxurious pools and baths, decadence. The Christian church filled the sea with imaginary monsters.

For Pliny the mermaid was a exciting proof of nature's diversity, her song an irresistible celestial harmony.

For the medieval church her siren song became the lure of fleshly pleasures to be feared and avoided by the godly. Swimming, like sexual pleasure, came to be associated with the devil and was almost suppressed during the domination of Europe by Christianity. Not until the beginning of the 19th century was its popularity revived.

Great Barrier Reef Low Isles

2011-02-28T19:20:00.000+11:00

A fabulously beautiful place to swim and snorkel, which we did in October 2008. Luvin' the stinger suit (not!!)

Noosa Main Beach

2011-02-26T07:31:00.000+11:00

Noosa Main Beach is a lovely haven, a little more protected than some of the more open and "wild" surf beaches of the Sunshine Coast. This is the last of the photos from our January 2011 Queensland holiday.

Caloundra Pool

2011-02-25T10:39:00.000+11:00

This beachfront tidal saltwater pool is at Kings Beach, Caloundra. The day I visited the water was murky from recent discharge of floodwaters which had affected many Queensland beaches after the floods of January 2011.

Plantation Resort, Rainbow Beach

2011-02-24T15:32:00.000+11:00

I am rather partial to a resort pool, even where the beach is a stone's throw away. I spent most of Australia Day 2011 lolling around here, hearing music from the pub next door.

The fight to save Bexley Pool ....continued

2011-02-22T23:25:00.017+11:00

Previous post on this issue

Driving and picnicking on the beach

2011-02-22T15:13:00.000+11:00

On the Fraser Coast in Queensland (and other places), driving a 4WD along parts of the beach is part of the lifestyle. Nevertheless, beach driving is controversial. I must admit it bemuses me somewhat - how you can imagine diesel fumes add to beauty, and why you would want to spend a picnic in the shadow of your car. It is also a bit disconcerting as a beach walker to have to watch out for traffic!

I am interested to hear what others have to say.

Above: evidence that you are never really alone on the beach, and could get mown down at any time! I went for a walk along Rainbow Beach just after 7am, and had to watch out for vehicles. Mind you, one driver regretted his decision - the rescue would have proved very costly!

Below: King of all he surveys

Below: Peak hour

Below: Where there is driving, there are road signs. This makes a particularly unattractive backdrop to the beach!

Below: Mind you, you had better heed the signs, cos the local coppers patrol the beach. They also set up breath-testing, probably to nab drunken picnickers on their way home from a day down the beach.

Below: Heavy traffic!

Pictures below: Australia Day, Rainbow Beach. Not, in my view, a particularly inviting way to have a picnic: turn a beach into a car park. Others no doubt disagree.

Rainbow Beach walk

2011-02-21T12:25:00.000+11:00

Probably misplaced on a "Swimming" Blog - but occasionally swimming is replaced by walking. Join me on a morning walk along Rainbow Beach. It's 26 January, Australia Day, 2011. The next post will show what the beach was like later in the day. For the moment, it is relatively peaceful...

Below: Early morning cars setting up at Mudlo Rocks for the circus the beach will become later

Below: Some people even brought their own furniture....

Below: Oops! Now that's a bummer of a start to the day! The Rainbow Beach website has a tally of the vehicles which have come to grief here. The Rainbow Beach website shows a tally of the vehicles which have come to grief here:

The notorious Mudlo Rocks have claimed many an over enthusiastic 4WD adventurer over the years. This is captured and monitored below in the official Rock Toll as a warning to those who dare try to conquer the ever-changing rock formation situated directly in front of the Rainbow Beach Township.

To check conditions make sure to check our beach report HERE and our live Rock Cam HERE before venturing out.

Year    Toyota     Nissan      Landrover      Mitsubishi       Holden      Misc        Total
2000       23          12              7                    14                  8             11            75
2001      14             9            10                     6                  3             14            56
2002        3             0              2                      3                  2               4            14
2003       13            1              5                      3                  1               2            25
2004       14            6              1                      5                  2               5            33
2005         9            5              1                      0                  0               7            22
2006       10            9              2                     8                  4               4            37
2007         8            2              4                      6                  8               4            32
2008         8            7              7                      2                  5             10            39
2009         9            3              5                      2                  1               8            28
2010       12            8              3                      6                  0               9            38

Below: Coffee rock - it's not really rock, but compacted and cemented sand and humus - a sort of prehistoric mud.

Below: The lookout at the end of Phil Rogers Park, next to the Carlo sandblow. It was named by Captain Cook after one of his crew members.

Below: Carlo Sandblow from the beach.

Below: Carlo Sandblow from the top, looking towards Double Island Point

Below: Part of the coloured sand cliffs which give Rainbow Beach (formerly called 'Back Beach') its name. Rainbow Beach started as a town servicing the sand mining industry. The sand cliffs get more spectacular than this, but I didn't keep walking.

Below: Watch out you don't get run over!

Below: Water runs out from Carlo Sandblow

Below: Looking over the beach from the lookout a Phil Rogers Park

Below: After the walk, a contemplation of Rainbow beach with one of the best smoothies I have ever had.

Rainbow Beach 26 Jan 2011 (Australia Day)

2011-02-20T09:43:00.000+11:00

Rainbow Beach is the jumping-off point for Fraser Island. It started in 1969 as a service centre for the sand mining industry. Prior to then there was no road to Rainbow Beach, the only access being by boat from Tin Can Bay.

The Rainbow Beach website says:

"Sandmining ceased in 1976 and it has since become a rather quiet and idyllic holiday, fishing and retirement getaway which promotes itself not only as the 'Gateway to Fraser Island', but as an 'eco-tourism' destination. This is not the place to be if you are after cosmopolitan-style pleasures but it does cater well to beach-orientated holiday-makers with hotels, motels, caravan parks. Although it has a permanent population of only around 900, about 70,000 visitors blow through town each year.

Over the next couple of days come for a walk along the beach, and discuss the merits of vehicles on the beach.

Below: Looking towards Fraser Island and the non-vehicle, swimming beach. The surf life saver patrolled beach is also netted against sharks. Nice place to swim, if you can get over the vehicles on the beach!

Below: Late afternoon view from the Surf Club

Lifeguards and Lifesavers - Peregian and Rainbow Beach

2011-02-19T20:08:00.000+11:00

What's the difference between a lifeguard and a lifesaver?

In the Australian context, there is an important historical difference , though they essentially they do the same thing and the boundaries are increasingly blurring.

A lifeguard is paid, usually by a local council or private entity, whereas a lifesaver comes through the tradition of the voluntary Surf Lifesaving Association, and does voluntary lifeguard duties on weekends and holidays. Lifesavers belong to clubs (they're sometimes dubbed "clubbies") and wear the red and yellow colours. Surf Lifesaving clubs provide personnel who do lifeguard duties, but it's also considered a sport, with regular competitions. The original surf life saving club is a matter of contention between the Bronte and Bondi beach clubs in Sydney. The original surf life saving club is a matter of contention between the Bronte and Bondi Beach clubs in Sydney.

"Lifesavers are volunteers that typically patrol in groups under a patrol captain for a given period of time on weekend and public holidays under a roster system. In order to be a surf lifesaver a person must hold a Bronze Medallion or a Surf Rescue Certificate and pass an annual proficiency test. Life savers who are on patrol wear red and yellow cloth caps on the head. While not performing rescues they are also required to wear long-sleeve yellow shirts and red shorts to provide protection against the sun. " (Wikipedia)

Click here to see more about the Surf Life Saving Association of Australia. They have a fantastic iPhone app which describes beach conditions at more than 12 000 Australian beaches!

Article about rivalry between lifesavers and lifeguards.

I'd love to hear opinions from anyone !

Lifeguard signs at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland

The surf livesaving tower at Rainbow Beach, Queensland

Eurong Beach Resort

2011-02-18T11:00:00.001+11:00

The pools at one of the two main resorts on Fraser Island. I swam in both! Very nice.

Seary's Creek near Rainbow Beach

2011-02-17T16:13:00.000+11:00

Seary's Creek is fed by a spring in the Great Sandy National Park. The water is quite cool, but not too bad for a hardy "southener" like me!

Above: When you created ripples on the surface, it appeared as if the bank was collapsing into the creek.

Above: The water is stained with tannin from tea-trees. The effect of the light on the sandy bottom through the water made it appear as if the roots of the tree were ablaze.

Seary's Creek is located near Rainbow Beach in southeast Queensland:

Champagne Pools, Fraser Island

2011-02-16T22:38:00.000+11:00

You can't swim at the magnificent beach along the eastern coast of Fraser Island (sharks, deadly sea snakes, currents....), but these natural rock pools are a gorgeous place for a dip.

They are natural fish traps, used by Aboriginal people.

Waves crash over the rocks, creating 'champagne bubbles".

Mahon Pool, Maroubra - Contrast

2011-02-14T19:43:00.000+11:00

From one day to the next . . . Mahon Pool at Maroubra. The top photo was taken at 3:45 on 16 January 2011, the second one the following morning. How the ocean changes! (The photos following were also taken 16 Jan)

Here's a video....

Fun!

2011-02-13T14:58:00.001+11:00

You can swim for exercise, competitively as a sport, for physical or emotional therapy, but lots of time swimming is great for no other reason than it's fun. Here's family and friends relaxing and enjoying ourselves on holiday at a resort at Peregian Beach in January this year.

Kandos Pool

2011-02-09T15:10:00.000+11:00

Kandos is a town of about 1300 people in the Central West of NSW, 235 kms west of Sydney.

(thanks to Pratty for the pics)

Bexley Pool Dec 2010 / Jan 2011

2011-01-31T18:49:00.000+11:00

Eli Creek, Fraser Island 24 Jan 2011

2011-01-31T17:31:00.002+11:00

Eli Creek is the largest creek on the eastern beach side of Fraser Island. It discharges up to 4 million litres of clear, fresh water into the ocean every hour.

Floating down this shallow, but quite swift flowing creek was a whole heap of fun!

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island, Queensland 25 Jan 2011

2011-01-30T16:46:00.001+11:00

Lake McKenzie is a sublime place to swim. And on the day we were there, we were the only group (14 people!). The lake is a "perched lake", meaning it is located above the water table. It is fed ONLY by rain water, and the only way water can exit is through evaporation. A layer of bonded mud, sand and vegetation (peat) called "humate" acts like a huge swimming pool liner, keeping the water inside.

Because the water is pure, swimmers are asked not to wear sunscreen or oils or use soap and shampoos when swimming. Car camping has been banned by the lake, which has cut down on the amount of litter and water contamination which previously occurred there.

The water temp was approximately 23 degrees - perfect!

Fraser Island has about 40 perched lakes.

Here are my photos of swimming in the lake previously - on 24 Jan 2001

Above: This looks to be an accumulation of oils

North Narrabeen Rock Pool 6 January 2011

2011-01-09T10:46:00.000+11:00

Information from NSW Ocean baths website:

The distinctive boardwalk between the pools is an original feature and has been replaced many times. The decking encloses a 50-metre by 18-metre pool within a larger 70-metre by 40-metre pool, while the 60-metre by 50-metre pool reservoir acts as a wading pool.

Early 1930s : Narrabeen's rock baths built under the Unemployment Relief Scheme were one of the largest and most distinctive rock baths in the Sydney area. The timber decking was an original feature.

Early 1940s : The Northern Suburbs Women's Amateur Swimming Association formed and involved ladies swimming clubs at the Collaroy, Dee Why, Freshwater and Narrabeen ocean pools.

1960s Narrabeen Ladies Swimming Club offered free swimming lessons every Saturday and Sunday.
The winter swimming club, the North Narrabeen Shivering Sharks formed.
Aboriginal boys and girls from inland NSW who attended the annual Aboriginal Welfare Board camp at Elanora Heights were photographed swimming at the pool.

1996 : Pittwater Council asked the NSW government to help pay for storm damage to the pool. A prolonged wave attack in March had done such major damage to the pool and the decking that the pool could only be used for social swimming and not for swimming competitions or training. Council estimated $82,000 was needed to fix the decking and resurface the inside of the pool.

A seven-year-old boy playing on his bodyboard was washed out of the baths and probably drowned. His body was not found.

2000 : Narrabeen Ladies Swimming Club's Chief Instructor had been involved in the learn-to-swim program for 31 years.

2002: In March, the NSW government created an aquatic reserve from the south end of Turimetta Beach to the rockbaths at Narrabeen Head. Within the protection zone, which extends to 100 metres offshore, recreational fishing is allowed, but there are bans on taking a whole range of intertidal invertebrates including oysters, mussels, crabs and pipis.

2003 : The NSW Department of Sport and Recreation had five morning swimming lessons running at the Narrabeen Pool from January 13-23.

A committed 74-year-old winter swimmer planned to ride his motor scooter from Elanora Heights to the North Narrabeen rock pool for his 700th consecutive winter swim meet since joining the Shivering Sharks in 1967. Those 700 swims covered 32 back-to-back seasons with around 22 meets each winter.

South Curl Curl Ocean Pool

2011-01-07T09:33:00.002+11:00

And after a swim: coffee, lunch or snack at the kiosk:

South Curl Curl is a beach north of Manly on the Northern Beaches area of Sydney. In this area, a string of ocean pools stretch from Palm Beach to Manly. See them all on the NSW Ocean Baths website. Most (not all, and not South Curl Curl) were built or expanded during the 1930s as projects to employ people during the Great Depression. Sydney is blessed with rocky headlands with rock platforms at the end of the crescent shaped beaches, and the pools are generally located on these rock platforms.

I am pretty sure they would never happen nowadays - there would be much uproar and protest at changing the natural rock platforms.

I love that these pools are free, and not fenced, are fully publicly accessible. Long may that remain! One of the last bastions of the "common good" in our bean-counting, user-pays world. (OK, I know Warringah rate payers pay...but that's a great use of local taxes - the rest of us help by supporting local businesses like cafes and shops. ..)

South Curl Curl pool (information from the website linked above):

1924: The Curl Curl Improvement Association requested that Warringah Council's engineer inspect the proposed site for a rock pool.

1925: The surf club was active in the enlargement of the rock pool to provide safer bathing. A public meeting about constructing baths led to the Curl Curl Improvement Association and South Curl Curl Life Saving Club forming a South Curl Curl Bath Committee to pressure council to enlarge the pool 'for the children' with the club raising funds for its completion via carnivals and social events at the clubhouse. A beauty pageant run by the swimming club helped to raise funds for the pool's construction.

1926: Warringah Shire Council completed construction of the baths. The outer wall of this original rock pool is now the centre wall of the present pool.

1927: The baths were formally opened.

1928: After the surf club advised it would take no further responsibility for the control of the rock baths, this role was taken over by a Council overseer.

1931: Swimming at the rock pool was part of the holiday experience of the first children accommodated at Stewart House, a facility created to provide seaside holiday accommodation for NSW schoolchildren 'from western suburbs and beyond'. (The Stewart House Prevantorium is still there: supported by public schools - students and teachers across NSW)
1935: Proposals were put forward for the enlargement of the rock pool.

Late 1930s: A wall was constructed at the rock pool, creating two pools. The outer wall of the original rock pool is the centre wall of the present pool.

1950: Toilets and a change-room were built.

Early 1960s: The Curl Curl Amateur Swimming Club formed following a meeting convened by South Curl Curl surf club. As the NSW Amateur Swimming Association did not then permit any of its affiliated clubs to have male and female members, the swimming club was officially divided into men's and women's sections. The surf club assisted the swimming club financially, and allowed to use the surf club for meetings, social functions and equipment storage.

1966: The men's and women's Amateur Swimming Clubs united to form one club and the pool was shortened to accommodate Olympic standard 50-metre races. This created a pool complex consisting of a 'stilling basin', a main pool (50 metres by 12 metres) and a wading pool (25 metres by 15 metres).

1968: Warringah Shire built the first clubhouse for the Amateur Swimming Club.

Mid-1970s: There were swimming competitions between the Amateur Swimming Club and the surf club.

Mid-1980s: The Harbord Frigid Frogs winter swimming club began to use the clubhouse building.

1990: A deck was added onto the clubhouse building to increase space available for the Frigid Frogs Club, which operates all year round.

1997: The children's pool was partly concreted, entry ramps were installed and pool walls repaired.

1999: The pool catered for a wide range of activities and for patrons of all ages and abilities. The carpark behind the beach which joins the surf club with the swimming club building and rock pool provided several disabled parking places for direct access to the pool. The elderly retired locals who habitually sunned themselves at the base of the concourse wall were affectionately known as 'the walruses'. Several high schools used the pool during weekdays in the swimming season. The wading pool was not only popular with children, it was also used as access to the surrounding rock shelf. Some locals expressed concerns about the pool being used for scuba lessons.

2002: At the 26th national winter swimming championships, the Frigid Frogs were again the strongest winter swimming club in Australia, finishing 71 points ahead of the Cronulla Polar Bears and the Maroubra Seals.

2003: On a day of gale-force winds, the police helicopter and two rescue service helicopters searched the seas after a pair of men were reported to have been pulled out to sea in heavy swells off South Curl Curl beach. It was not clear whether the men had been washed from a rock pool at the beach or had been swimming nearby when the undertow took hold of them. The search for the two men proved unsuccessful and was abandoned.

View Larger Map

The Swimming Song by Loudon Wainwright III

2011-01-05T20:15:00.000+11:00

oudo

Thanks to fellow Swimmign blogger, AquaMarina, I recently learned about Loudon Wainwright III's song, The Swimming Song. So, here it is.

This summer I went swimming
This summer I might have drowned
But I held my breath, I kicked my feet
Moved my arms around
I moved my arms around

This summer I swam in the ocean
And I swam in a swimming pool
Salt my wounds, chlorined my eyes
I'm a self-destructive fool
Self-destructive fool

This summer I did the back stroke
And you know that that's not all
I did the breast stroke, the butterfly
And the old Australian crawl
The old Australian crawl

This summer I swam in a public place
And a reservoir to boot
At the latter I was informal
At the former I wore my suit
I wore my swimming suit

Oh, this summer I did swan dives
And jack-knives for you all
And once when you weren't looking
I did a cannon-ball
I did a cannon-ball

This summer I went swimming
This summer I might have drowned
But I held my breath, I kicked my feet
And moved my arms around
I moved my arms around

Fitzroy Baths

2010-12-29T09:07:00.000+11:00

Photo 2010 by John Pratt

Under the Kennett government in Victoria, many public facilities wrre closed as cost-saving measures. Fitzroy Baths, which featured in a reasonably iconic Australian novel, Monkey Grip, by Helen Garner, was one thing which was saved from closure by a determined community campaign.

There was an ABC Background Briefing radio program about it. You can read the transcript here.

My friend John had a swim here recently and took the photo above.

The opening of Fitzroy Baths, 1908, from Pictures Australia

On a day like today.....

2010-12-11T12:36:00.000+11:00

...it's great to be here! (Bexley pool)

Bexley pool battle

2010-12-10T06:56:00.005+11:00

Here's an issue close to my heart - the future of Bexley Pool. This is from the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader.

Hot or cold: Mark Hanna, 54, of Bexley successfully fought for Bexley Pool to be kept open during winter. Picture: Renee Targett

Pool's future murky

BY MARIANNA PAPADAKIS
07 Dec, 2010 08:00 AM
THOUSANDS of Rockdale residents have called for urgent upgrades to Bexley Pool in a petition to Rockdale Council last week.
Mark Hanna, 54, of Bexley who has campaigned for the past two years to have the pool upgraded, said the council had set upgrade milestones a year ago and it needed to be more ‘‘rigorous’’ so that the project did not stall.
He submitted a petition with 4416 signatures on it to Rockdale mayor Bill
Saravinovski calling for the council’s
promised work on the pool to be completed according to the recommendations of the community reference group.
This includes restoration of the 50-metre pool and construction of two new indoor pools by December next year. It also calls for year-round opening.
An independent study found the pool had reached its economic shelf life, and the cost of reconstruction plus a new indoor heated pool and therapy pool would be $10.4 million.
The council voted to commit $80,000 from the Bexley Pool redevelopment fund to investigate the feasibility of relocating the 50- metre pool to the east, depending on the location of existing sewer and stormwater pipes.
The council has already spent $120,000 on feasibility studies including on-site testing, preparation of initial designs, and costings.
A report will come back to council in February on the outcome of these investigations and the possibility of including the project in the 2011-12 operational plan.
Independent councillors Liz Barlow and Yvonne Bellamy raised concerns about the expense of outsourcing further investigations.
Rockdale Council director of city planning and development, Stephen Kerr, said the investigations would require both in-house resources and skills plus outside consultants.
Concept designs and costings for a relocated 50-metre pool and an indoor heated 25-metre pool and program therapy pool (to where the existing amenities and office building are now) would be investigated jointly by the council and consultants, he said.
Mr Hanna said the feasibility studies and designs were delivered six months late, and that any proposal to demolish the existing amenities and office building — which had a $824,240 upgrade only eight years ago — would not please ratepayers.

More articles:

Testing waters at Bexley Pool - 11 Dec 2009
Passion for their pool - 11 Sep 2009

Sans Souci Leisure Centre

2010-10-30T19:45:00.006+11:00

When I was at school we used to come here for school sport. Of course it was a "pool" then, but now it's a "leisure centre" with indoor learning pool, weights room, cardio room and a cafe with an espresso machine (thank god!) thought I'd pay a revisit today on a gorgeous sunny day to do some laps.

The old entrance:

The old changing rooms and kiosk:

The new entrance is from the park:

Foro Italico, Roma - its fascist history

2009-08-05T21:55:00.013+10:00

The venue for the recent World Swimming Championships, the Foro Italico has a fascinating history. The following article published on Deutsche Welle, tells the story.

" 27.07.2009
Diving with the Duce

The World Championships for swimming, diving and other water sports have transformed Rome into Waterworld. The ancient city's major sports venue is sparkling after an extensive upgrade.

The Foro Italico is lauded as a masterpiece of 1930s architecture. However, the sports venue generates mixed feelings among Italians. The Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, was the visionary behind the art and architecture.

Athletes and spectators entering the venue of this year's swimming World Championships walk right by Italy's dark past. Poking into the sky is a restored, blindingly white marble monument that rises to a gold point.

The Fascist dictator wanted to create a forum that would surpass those of Caesar and Augustus.

"This is the obelisk, Mussolini's obelisk," said Context Travel docent Sarah Morgan with a nervous laugh, knowing she's stating the obvious. "Mussolini Dux," or Mussolini Leader, is carved into the marble in gigantic letters.

"They haven't made any attempt to erase his name," said the fascist era scholar.

Mussolini's Forum

The obelisk fronts the sprawling sporting center built mostly in the 1930s. Originally called Foro Mussolini, or Mussolini's Forum, the center was renamed Foro Italico after the regime's fall.

Il Duce wanted to create a forum that would surpass those of Caesar and Augustus. He enlisted the help of the architect Enrico Del Debbio, who used the same building materials as the ancient Romans. The marble came from Carrara, a Tuscan town famous for providing the pristine marble in many of the eternal city's monuments. The Roman Empire influenced nearly every aspect of Mussolini's forum.

"It was really the era that they could hark back to show Rome's greatness and also when Rome had this empire," said Morgan, who wrote her doctoral thesis on gender and sport in fascist Italy.

She said Mussolini tapped into the symbolism to create national pride among modern Italians. But he also wanted to use history for "justifying what they were doing."

Spelling it out

A stark, rectangular piazza stretches from Mussolini's obelisk to the stadium. The fascist leader took advantage of this space to spread his message through black and white mosaics. Louder than any fan, the artwork screams that sports and fascism are linked.

"Duce, Duce, Duce" is spelled out along the piazza's edge. Also written is "Molti Nemici, Molto Onore," which translates into "Many Enemies, Much Honor."

Alongside the propaganda, the mosaics show athletes in action. A muscular man hurls the discus. Swimmers churn through the water. An ice hockey player shoots at the goal. Nearly all are male and they're competing in Mussolini-approved sports. Cycling, for instance, isn't depicted. Why? Il Duce considered it a communist sport. The fascists ran their own sports leagues and banned all others.

"The Fascists wanted to use sport to make Italians fitter," Morgan said. Athletics were a pillar in the party's platform that projected "an image of a stronger, more virile Italy, as well as preparing them for war."

The piazza was inaugurated in 1937 to celebrate the conquest of Ethiopia, Il Duce's first - and only - colony in his attempt to create a new Roman Empire. Morgan points to the mosaics that she considers the most revealing: 20th century tanks, airplanes and soldiers decorate a mosaic done in an ancient Roman style. The past and the present meet with a message written in the mosaics.

"It's saying, 'Finally, Italy has its empire,'" Morgan said.

Fascism falls, Foro stands

In Rome's Stadio dei Marmi, Italians sing the national anthem during the swimming championships' opening ceremonies. The Allies liberated Rome in 1944, yet the city was left with this reminder. The track is rimmed with 60 white marble statues of sportsmen, from boxers to basketball players. They look like Roman or Greek gods with the buffed bodies of gladiators. All are naked, a little odd for the statue depicting a skier.

Different artists created the sculptures, each of which represents an Italian province. Sports fans usually have a favorite.

The Fascist era stadium only features athletes Mussolini approved of .

"It's Hercules at the entrance, the symbol of Rome," said Valerio Raschiatore. "It's the most handsome of all," the Roman added, chuckling. It's an unconventional choice. His statue sits apart from the other 60.

During the Fascist regime, young men about Raschiatore's age attended the attached Fascist Party-run physical education academy. They marched on this field for visiting dignitaries, including Hitler. It's a history that the city may want to hide but can't.

"Rome and its people are linked more than other Italians to fascism because the city was its power center," Raschiatore said. He says this stadium is beautiful but it isn't a place that Romans are proud of. Fascism colored it.

"The regime is looked at on one hand for the positive things accomplished but above all for its negatives," Raschiatore said.

Dive with the Duce

Foro Italico's 50-meter indoor pool is awash with fascist art and architecture, even though it was completed decades after the dictator's execution in 1945.

The neoclassical wonder was built in preparation for the 1960 Olympics, using designs created during the years of fascism and by the same architect. During the World Championships, swimmers warm up in this pool, which resembles an ancient Roman bath. Mosaics of seahorses and lobsters cover the deck and the walls explode with blue prancing horses and tanned runners.

Retired Italian swimmer Novella Calligaris trained in the pool en route to Olympic medals at the 1972 Olympics. This Fascist facility leaves her conflicted.

"I don't justify the period – I want to be very clear about that," Calligaris said. "But I think for the history and the art, it is a very good example."

Novella Calligaris is now a painter with a keen understanding of art. Yet she was a teenager when she was churning up and down the pool and far more interested in swimming fast than taking a museum tour. She adds that the pool wasn't well suited for her discipline.

"It's very dark. It's very deep," Calligaris said. "We used to say it's like a tomb."

She admits that the shimmering mosaics didn't color her workouts. "When you swim, your head is in the water and you can't look around."

Mussolini put particular emphasis on the sport of swimming. But much to his dismay, Italians didn't take the plunge. It's still not a nation of swimmers. Some scholars say Italians remain wary of the sport because of its ties to fascism.

Mussolini considered himself a swimmer, even though he wasn't particularly talented. A barrel-chested, short man, he put in his laps in his own column-lined pool at Foro Italico, which was recently opened for a rare tour. The brutal dictator swam near whimsical mosaics of dancing bears and walruses.

"Fortunately, it's now a swimming school for kids," said Piero Mei of the World Championships' organizing committee. "The world has changed, thank God."

The pool won't be used during the championships. Mei says for years this pool and the other facilities were neglected and threatened with destruction due to their symbolism of Mussolini's Fascist regime.

"Then the Foro Italico was rediscovered apart from its ideology, the beauty of its architecture and its modernity, apart from the era in which it was constructed," Mei said. "There's no other sporting complex in the world like Foro Italico."

Former swimmer Novella Calligaris says 70 years is enough time for Rome to separate the Foro Italico from its dark history. The Eternal City has done it before with the Colosseum.

Right: Mussolini's private swimming pool inside Foro Italico

"Inside the Colosseum, the Romans gave Christians to the lions," Calligaris said. "But we'd never cover up the Colosseum."

The World Swimming Championships won't wash away Foro Italico's history but may provide some new, positive memories for this sporting and art wonder.

Author: Nancy Greenleese in Rome (hs)

Editor: Rob Turner

Swimming in fiction: Andrea Camilleri's detective Salvo Montalbano

2009-06-08T10:13:00.002+10:00

Andrea Camilleri’s Sicilian detective, Salvo Montalbano often works out his existential angst by having a long swim off the beach his gorgeous little beach house, situated just outside the fictional town of Vigità.

Vigità is based on Camilleri’s home town, Porto Empedocle in the province of Agrigento. The TV series is filmed mainly in and around Ragusa.

I’m a dedicated Montalbano fan, both books and TV. I love to know what decided Camilleri to make his hero a swimmer. Does Camilleri like swimming himself?

In Montalbano’s seventh outing, Rounding The Mark, Montalbano’s swimming is an essential plot device such that it is while swimming the body is found….

“He began swimming in slow, broad strokes. The sea smelled harsh, stinging his nostrils like champagne, and he nearly got drunk on it. Montalbano kept swimming and swimming, his head finally free of all thought, happy to have turned into a kind of mechanical doll. He was jolted back to human reality when a cramp suddenly bit into his left calf. Cursing the saints, he flipped onto his back and did the dead man’s float. The pain was so sharp that it made him grit his teeth. Sooner or later it would pass. These damned cramps had become more frequent in the last two or three years. Signs of old age lurking round the corner? The current carried him lazily along. The pain was starting to abate, and this allowed him to take two armstrokes backwards. At the end of the second stroke, his hand struck something.

In a fraction of a second, Montalbano realized he’d struck a human foot. Somebody else was floating right beside him, and he hadn’t noticed.

“Excuse me,” he said hastily, flipping back onto his belly and looking over at the other.

The person beside him didn’t answer, however, because he wasn’t doing the dead man’s float. He was actually dead. And, to judge from the way he looked, he’d been so for quite a while.” (p 15)

Montalbano's television "house" and beach in Ragusa, Sicily. Looks like a fair few tourists manage to find their way there:

My cards - swimming theme

2009-04-27T06:44:00.007+10:00

I really enjoy making Artist Trading Cards, mostly using rubber stamps and inks.
These are 2.5 inch x 3.5 inch cards, the size of the old swap cards we used to trade as kids.

The principle is simple - they can't be sold, they must be swapped. I belong to a few groups.

After swimming in a few ocean pools this summer, I was inspired to make a card combining my love of stamping, photography and swimming.

I used one of my photos of Bronte Baths to make this one. I used part of a rubber stamp (Swim) and stamped it on acetate. I overlaid it on the resized photo and scanned. With the result I then used a photo manipulation program, ULead Photo Express to turn it into a watercolour effect, and add the bubbles.

Below are some more ATCs I've made with a swimming or beach theme.

Cabarita Pool

2009-04-26T13:59:00.008+10:00

I was tooling around the Inner West of Sydney recently, and decided to take a peek at Cabarita Pool. Fortunately there was a great viewing area on the outside, cos I didn't have my swimming stuff with me (no, I don't ALWAYS carry it around....note to self: point to consider!)

There was one lone lap swimmer, and it's true it was a fairly windy day, but the board at the entrance said the water temp was 26 deg. Not bad at all.

To get to the pool, you need to enter through Cabarita Park, on Hen and Chicken Bay, part of Sydney Harbour/Parramatta River.

Two recent pieces from newspapers

2009-04-25T09:24:00.006+10:00

First, from the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader on Thursday April 9, 2009:

"The Sunrise Jellybean Mermaids are a happy bunch of early-morning swimmers, aged from 55 to 86, who have been meeting for more than 40 years at Oak park Pool for a traditional sunrise start to the day. The name Jellybeans stems from the colours of their bathing caps resembling jellybeans bobbing in the pool. The group is known to belt out a song or two to the amusement of passers-by.

In this picture “King Neptune” appeared with the mermaids to mark the change of daylight saving. "

Long may you swim, Jellybeans!

***

The following humorous piece is by Mark Dapin, a regular columnist in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Weekend Magazine.

It made me laugh.

Pool Resources by Mark Dapin.
Good Weekend April 18, 2009

"I come from a land up over, where swimming in the sea is an eccentric minority pastime and most of the beaches could double as roughcast plasterwork.

I learned to swim when I was about nine years old at the “municipal baths”, which was every bit as glamorous and modern as it sounds. In England, all the swimming pools used to be called “baths”, which served to remind people not to go there too often or stay in too long.

I could not see the point of swimming. I lived in the north of England, where nobody ever swam anywhere. Public-service announcements on TV warned that a child could drown in two inches of water, so what sort of nutter would jump into a whole metre of liquid death?

When I was 12, I moved to the south of England, where water sports are slightly more popular. At school, they asked if I could swim, and I told them I could not, so I was consigned to the shallow beginners’ pool and ignored by the PE “teachers”, who had a furious contempt for anyone who might need to be taught PE.

The other kids in the non-swimmers’ group were not the brightest nor the most robust boys in the school, and I started surreptitiously swimming, out of boredom. A PE teacher spotted me, and that was the end of that. I had to move up to the swimmers’ group.

But I was useless. I never managed to progress further than 25 metres, or master a style more complicated than breaststroke.

I had barely ever swum in open water until I went travelling to South-East Asia and discovered snorkelling. To my mild surprise, I noticed the seabed was not sealed with neatly grouted tiling, and was home to various forms of life apart from other boys’ feet.

In fact, it was a teeming dream world of brightly coloured domestic refuse, including plastic bags, Singha beer bottles and car tyres. Among the cheerful detritus of Thailand’s modernisation, I saw poised, gaudy fish and outrageous ears of coral, and these combined to awaken in me the swimmer who had been asleep since cheesecloth shirts were fashionable (or, at least, my mum told me they were fashionable).

When I arrived in Australia, 20 years ago, I began to visit the coast, but my beach-going – like my hair – dropped off with the years. I became a naturalised Australian, but felt slightly fraudulent, since I had rarely even owned a pair of Speedos.

Then a swimming pool opened in my apartment complex. One day, out of curiosity, I climbed into the pool and decided to test how far I could swim. After a couple of attempts, I discovered I could swim any distance at all. As long as I stuck to breaststroke (which is easy, because I still can’t do any other stroke), I never got tired.

Everyone else who swam in the pool wore goggles to keep water out of their eyes, so I went and bought some, too. I immediately lost them, and bought some more, but this did not satisfy my sudden desire for swimming equipment, so I purchased putty plugs to keep water out of my ears, and considered shelling out for a special peg to keep water out of my nose, but worried it might make me look like a gimp from a bondage and discipline show. Many pool users also wore caps to keep the water off their heads, but if you’re that wary of getting wet, you should probably stay out of the pool.

I abandoned the goggles and the plugs, but I have stuck with the swimming. It is relaxing and rewarding, if a bit boring. The natural-born swimmers in the lanes on either side of me go much faster, and I won’t even try to go into my ridiculous attempts to master freestyle (there is a reason it is not called the “Pommy crawl”), but the whole pool experience makes me feel strangely and satisfyingly Australia, as if I do belong in a land down under after all. "

Swimming in fiction: The Famous Five

2009-04-08T08:00:00.000+10:00

The Famous Five adventure series features a few swimming scenes, as the super-slueths take off in their school hols fighting crime and evil-doing the length and breadth of England - well the West Country part of it, really.

Here's bossy Julian, wimpy Ann, tomboy George and gormless Dick (not to forget Timmy the Dog) and all the Blyton sexist and class-based stereotypes played out in some swimming secnes.

Extract from Five Get Into Trouble (first pub Nov 1949):
"Now for the lake," said Julian, folding up the map which he had just been examining. "It's only about five miles away. It's called the Green Pool, but looks a good bit bigger than a pool. Gosh, I could do with a bathe. I'm so hot and sticky."

They came to the lake at about half-past seven. It was in a lovely place, and had beside it a small hut which was obviously used in summer-time for bathers to change into bathing suits. Now it was locked, and curtains were drawn across the windows.

"I suppose we can go in for a dip if we like?" said Dick, rather doubtfully. "We shan't be trespassing or anything, shall we?"

"No. It doesn't say anything about being private," said Julian. "The water won't be very warm, you know, because it's only mid-April! But after all, we're used to cold baths every morning, and I daresay the sun has taken the chill off the lake. Come on - let's get into bathing-things."

They changed behind the bushes and then ran down to the lake. The water was certainly very cold indeed. Anne skipped in and out, and wouldn't do any more than that.

George joined the boys in a swim, and they all came out glowing and laughing. "Gosh, that was cold!" said Dick. "Come on - let's have a sharp run. Look at Anne dressed already. Timmy, where are you? You don't mind the cold water, so you?"
...
The next day was fair and bright. It was lovely to wake up and feel the warm sun on their cheeks, and hear a thrush singing his heart out....

"I'm going for a bathe," said Julian. "Anyone else coming?"

"I won't," said Anne. "It will be too cold for me this morning. George doesn't seem to want to either. You two boys go by yourselves. I'll have breakfast ready for when you come back. Sorry I won't be able to have anything hot for you to drink - but we didn;t bring a kettle or anything like that."

Julian and Dick went off to the Green Pool, still looking sleepy. The two boys were almost at the pool. Ah, now they could see it between the trees, shining a bright emerald green. It looked very inviting indeed.

They suddenly saw a bicycle standing beside a tree. They looked at it in astonishment. It wasn't one of theirs. It must belong to someone else.

Then they heard splashings from the pool, and they hurried down to it. Was someone else bathing?

A boy was in the pool, his golden head shining wet and smooth in the morning sun. He was swimmign powerfully across the pool, leaving long ripples behind him as he went. He suddenly saw Dick and Julian and swam over to them.

"Hallo," he said, wading out of the water. "You come for a swim too? Nice pool of mine, isn't it?"

"What do you mean? It isn't really your pool, is it?" said Julian.

"Well - it belongs to my father, Thurlow Kent," said the boy.

Both Julian and Dick had heard of Thurlow Kent, one of the richest men in the country. Julian looked doubtfully at the boy.

"If it is a private pool we won't use it," he said.

"Oh, come on!" cried the boy, and splashed cold water all over them. "Race you to the other side!"

And of all three of them went, cleaving the green waters with their strong brown arms - what a fine beginning to a sunny day!

The marvellous website Enid Blyton.net provides a plot summary of each of the books, and some reproductions of illustrations.

In Five Go To Billycock Hill, "Toby takes the Five down to a pool for a swim, but Julian is concerned about the sign that informs them the area is restricted. Toby tells them it's been there ages and doesn't mean anything, so they all plunge in—but soon an officer arrives from the RAF base and tells them to clear off. So swimming is out. But Julian sets things right by apologizing in a most grown up way that impresses the officer no end. Good old thirteen-year-old Ju! "

In Five Have Plenty of Time, "The Five are once more staying at Kirrin Cottage and enjoying the sunshine and swimming in the bay."

Malabar Pool

2009-04-02T10:22:00.000+11:00

Probably my last rock pool of this summer. Malabar is a very quiet pool, thoroughly local. No glamour here, no cafes full of "beautiful people", just families enjoying themselves.

Photos taken 23 January 2009

A rock pool has existed here since the 1890s.

Unfortunatley Malabar has had a bad name since an outfall carrying abattois waste from Homebush was built in 1916. By the 1970s the pool and bay were declared off-limits due to pollution from what was now a sewerage outfall.

In the early 1990s, a deep ocean outfall was constructed, emptying 4.2 kilometres offshore (I still think it's outrageous Sydney tips its sewerage into the ocean at all, even though it is treated to a certain degree - but not fully, but that's another story).

Local schools requested that the pool be re-opened and the local state Member of Parliament and incoming Premier, Bob Carr, promised funds for it. The restored baths were opened in 1997. Monitoring shows that it is now perfectly clean, and it was certainly looking gorgeous the day I went for a swim there.

Each of the ocan baths has a different character. This one was very quiet, and family-oriented. There are no cafes, and none of the glamour of beaches and pools a little further north...I liked it very much.

See more at the NSW Ocean Baths site.

Greeting Card

2009-03-30T12:05:00.001+11:00

My sister found this card for me a while ago. I can't think of any more appropriate birthday card!

Maroubra Mahon Pool

2009-03-24T16:01:00.000+11:00

Had never been to Mahon Pool before this, and I absolutely loved it. I think it has become one of my favourite Sydney rock pools. It's totally unpretentious, with a really mixed crowd, and there's those stunning views along to the beach at Maroubra.

Above: Searching for rock crabs, and Below: One I saw

Photos taken 24 Jan 2009

From NSW Ocean Baths website:
1932
The pool was constructed by Randwick Council as an Unemployment Relief project.
1958
The Maroubra Seals winter swimming club formed.
1979
Pool improvements were sought to enable the weaker members of the community and children to use the pool. When seas were a little rougher than usual, young children and older folk were frequently swept against the rocks and at times even experienced swimmers found swimming in the pool was impossible.

There were proposals to extend the pool to a full 100 metres, creating a more sheltered swimming area and making it easier for social swimmers to continue to use part of the pool, while competitive club swimming events were held in the rest of the pool.
1983
After requests from residents and the Maroubra Seals Club, the Mayor of Randwick, John Ford, and the Council engineer inspected the pool and agreed the needed repairs included repairing the safety chain and drainage outlet, repairing the sea wall, paving and handrail, diverting fresh water seepage from the pool surrounds. They estimated the repairs to minimise injury to bathers would take two weeks.
1984
Residents were writing to newspapers complaining about the neglected Mahon Pool in a distressing state of disrepair, virtually empty and unswimmable at its 'worst in the last 18 years'. The neglected state of the pool was seen as depriving adults and children of healthy exercise and enjoyment.
1985
Randwick Council decided earlier suggestions for extending the size of the pool were too costly, but people who had been swimming at Mahon pool for around 50 years thought it had never been in such poor condition. They feared that Randwick Council intended to leave the recently levelled car park unpaved and felt better access was needed so older people 'who felt the salt water was beneficial to them could use the pool in calmer weather' and so ambulance officers could reach the pool easily in case of an emergency.
1988
The Mahon Pool was considered in deplorable condition and Randwick Council was confronted with two separate petitions with a combined total of 313 signatures urging attention to the pool and its surrounds. Alderman Charles Mathews noted that the pool was in use all year and very popular with older and young people who wanted to swim in sea water, but were concerned about the danger of the surf. Extensive repairs to the pool's concrete wall approved by Council in 1987 had been delayed for a year by rough seas.

The Maroubra Seals proposed additions and alterations to the Mahon Pool change-rooms to the Randwick City Council. Council accept the Seals' generous offer to undertake the work on the conditions that the work was not detrimental to the environment, complemented the attractive foreshore environment would not impose additional maintenance costs on Council.
1994
The National Trust classified the Mahon Pool and listed it on its heritage register.
1996
The novel Get Rich Quick by Peter Doyle featured a body floating in the Mahon Pool. In real life, a fisherman at Mahon Pool had a heart attack and nearly drowned after a wave washed him off the rocks. His fishing partner and two other men kept him above water, while lifesavers were alerted. He was brought to the beach in a rescue patrol boat and flown to hospital in the Westpac lifesaver helicopter.
2000
As part of its State of the Environment (SOE) report, Randwick City Council reported on water monitoring in the Mahon Pool.
2002
Letters to Sydney's Daily Telegraph complained that steps leading to the Mahon Pool were 'covered in thick moss' which caused swimmers to slip and cut themselves on the rocks and demanded that Randwick Council act to keep it a 'safe and enjoyable area'.
2003
Real estate pages, newsletters and advertisements for apartments and houses at Maroubra feature images of the Mahon Pool.

Coogee - Wylies Baths

2009-03-11T20:37:00.013+11:00

Wylie's Baths at Coogee is one of the iconic baths. A couple of posts ago I talked about Mina Wylie, the daughter of the founder of the baths.

Wylies website

Photos taken 7 Feb 2009

From NSW Ocean Baths website

Early 1900s
Australian champion underwater swimmer, Henry Alexander Wylie, who had previously operated the Bronte Baths, obtained a special lease for the area below the high-water mark, with the area above high-water mark being under Crown reserve.
1902
A Crown reserve was created for Wylies Baths.
1907
The ocean baths, leased and constructed by Henry Alexander Wylie, opened as Wylies Baths on 12 December 1907. These baths offered a 55-foot by 35-foot pool with a natural rock base surrounded by concrete walls. It appears Wylie and his two sons cut the pool out of the rock at the southern end of Coogee Bay.
1910
Wylies Baths offered 'family bathing' , making it one of Sydney's first baths to offer mixed bathing.
1912
Wylie erected the characteristic high timber boardwalk that encloses two sides of the pool, creating a spectacular cliff-side complex and a well known local landmark. That deck had horizontal railings. A diving tower was added. Entrance fees were collected and swimming costumes were issued at the caretaker's cottage. In the men's change room, an opening in the roof encouraged nude or 'natural' sunbathing.
1920s
'Wylie's Continental Baths Coogee's Premier Pool' was open for mixed bathing daily between 6am and 10pm. People journeyed to the baths to enjoy the protected conditions and queued for hours for to get a game of a volleyball-style version of quoits, the only out-of-water sport at the baths. There was a diving board and a water slide.
1947
The pool was closed to the public after high seas badly damaged the pool and its buildings. Its popularity declined.
1959
Wylie ceased to operate the baths.
1960
The special lease was transferred from Walter and Wylie to Desmond Selby. The baths were refurbished and given a new identity as the Sunstrip Pool with its distinctive chequerboard railing around the timber deck. Hot showers were added along with a kiosk and shop on the boardwalk. Unfortunately, the new structures were difficult to inspect and maintain without erecting scaffolding. Construction materials included tram windows and tram runner boards used as benches.

The Sunstrip Pool became the home pool for the South Maroubra Dolphins, founded as an off-season activity for the South Maroubra surf club.
1969
The closing of the off-beach Coogee Aquarium Baths, led the Randwick & Coogee ASC to use the Sunstrip pool as its new headquarters, for its Thursday-night events for seniors and for its Saturday events, but its annual championship carnival was held at the inland Heffron pool at Maroubra. The club attributed the drop in its membership from 180 to 118 to the tidal conditions at the Sunstrip Pool, which also hampered learn-to-swim classes. The club's Christmas party at the Sunstrip Pool, involved Santa being towed around the pool on a rubber raft.
Early 1970s
Randwick & Coogee Amateur Swimming Club versus surf club carnivals were held annually.
Difficulties with the pool management led the Randwick & Coogee Amateur Swimming Club to transfer to the Ross Jones Pool at Coogee.
The baths were closed due to sea damage in May 1974.
1977
Closure of the baths due to sea damage led to forfeiture of the special lease and to Randwick Council taking control of the baths.
1978
The Randwick & Coogee ASC asked Randwick Council to re-open Wylies Baths, which had remained closed after storm damage. Council was granted a permissive occupancy by the Crown over the area pending completion of a special lease arranged with Council as a Trustee. In October after $20,000 of repairs, the baths re-opened under the control of Randwick City Council and were formally renamed Wylies Baths.

Under section 530 of the Local Government Act, Randwick Council established the Wylies Baths committee of management comprising representatives from the South Maroubra Dolphins Winter Swimming Club, Randwick & Coogee Amateur Swimming Club, the Coogee-Randwick RSL Diggers Swimming Club and the Coogee surf club.

An annual competition for Junior Randwick & Coogee Amateur Swimming Club (ASC) members against the Coogee Minnows began in the 1978 season along with inauguration of the Coogee Surf Club trophy for the most outstanding 12-year-old swimming club member eligible for surf club membership.
1979
Amid fears that Wylies Baths would fall down, Council allocated $142,000 for pool reconstruction. Plans were prepared by an architect, but no further action was taken due to concerns regarding minor public objections and possible detrimental environmental impact. Coogee surf club was forced to go outside the Randwick municipality to train, but around 2,000 school children continued to used the pool in summer. Wylies Baths remained one of the municipality's main attractions.
1980
The Randwick & Coogee ASC held its annual mile swim and swimathon at Wylies Baths. About 50 people attended the Randwick & Coogee ASC events on Saturday mornings in summer, about 120 attended South Maroubra Dolphins events on Sunday mornings in winter and about 70 attended the Diggers Club (that club also had access to its own indoor pool) events at Wylies on summer mornings. The Coogee surf club used the pool for rescue and resuscitation training.

The pool's committee of management claimed that 350 children from eight local schools visited the pool weekly over the previous summer. The well-known open water swimmer, Des Renford, lobbied for the improvements to Wylies Baths, where tens of thousands had learned to swim.
1982 & 1983
Randwick City Council was still considering upgrading Wylies Baths to the standard of the Mahon pool at Maroubra and removing the fence to give open access. In the 1982 season, Randwick Council stopped its annual donation to the Randwick & Coogee ASC, but allowed clubs represented on the Wylies Baths management committee to receive a share of the kiosk profits.

In the 1982 season, Randwick & Coogee ASC membership increased to 107, and 54 children took part in its learn-to-swim classes.
1984
The change-room, kiosk and decking at Wylies required extensive repair work at an estimated cost of $150,000. Due to objections from a local residents' group and problems with the lease of the site from the NSW Lands Department, only essential repairs were carried out to keep the pool fit to open.

Randwick Council's 1984 Plan of Management for the South Coogee Beach Reserve anticipated continued operation of Wylies Baths. On some weeks, up to 11 schools and 6,000 school children used the pool.
1986 & 1987
Randwick & Coogee ASC membership rose to 175, with an average of 100 people attending each of the Saturday morning events, 42 learn-to-swim certificates were awarded, and a paid swim coach offered free stroke correction classes to the younger members.

By 1987, Randwick Council had spent 20 years discussing repairs to Wylies Baths. English Channel swimmer Des Renford and former test cricketer Frank Missen were among those who swam at Wylies Baths all year round.
1988
Randwick & Coogee ASC celebrated Australia's bicentenary by sponsoring a carnival at which all the other swimming clubs based at tidal pools in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs were invited to compete. During the carnival, the NSW Minister for Sport, Michael Cleary MP, unveiled a plaque commemorating Olympic swimmer Mina Wylie. As the State member, Cleary had obtained a $70,000 grant from the Department of Sport and Recreation for long-overdue repairs to alleviate leaks and dangerous conditions at the pool. Randwick Council was still seeking a special lease on the pool and had condemned the pool's wooden structures on the basis of structural engineering reports regarding the need for major maintenance and reconstruction of the timber desk. Alderman Des Renford and others argued for keeping the baths open during repairs.
1990
When Wylies closed for the season, it was desperately in need of repairs and there were doubts that it would ever re-open. Gate takings for the season amounted to less than $25,000. Over the previous 12 months Randwick City Council had spent $42,000 stopping leaks at the pool and was reluctant to spent money on the baths without a long-term lease. Local businessmen had suggested a $2 million restoration to include a public restaurant. Locals suspected the Council had no intention of repairing the pool and expected that a big sea would knock it over.
1991
Only two schools were using the pool. Swimmers were getting splinters in their feet, tripping over boards, getting scratches from split seats and using primitive toilet facilities. A thousand people signed a petition about Randwick Council's failure to carry out repairs at the Baths. At a protest meeting at the Baths about Council's failure to restore the Baths, a hundred Wylies supporters claimed the baths were a special part of Coogee's life and heritage and that just about every local kid had learnt to swim there, seeding development of the surf club. They demanded public ownership and control of the baths. Sydney people were said to travel from as far away as Mt Druitt to swim at Wylies, which has the 'magic only age brings'.

Wylies Baths was an issue in the Randwick Council elections.

Eileen Slarke created a sculpture called 'Sea Wall, Wylies Baths Coogee' for the Macquarie University Sculpture Park.
1992
Council's announcement of the pool's likely closure had lost it that year's NSW Department of Sport and Recreation learn-to-swim campaign. Even among the clubs, swimmer numbers were down by half. Only a few diehard swimmers continued to use the Baths.

Following State member Ernie Page's intervention with the NSW Lands Department, Randwick Council signed a 25-year lease for Wylies.
1993
The NSW government offered a further $260,000 for Wylies, matching the Randwick Council contribution for stage one of the pool restoration and Randwick City Council allocated $600,000. Randwick's new Mayor, Chris Bastic, was also chairman of the Wylies Baths Management Committee and had campaigned vigorously for renovation of the baths during his six years on Council. The pool renovation was part of a wider state government campaign to improve conditions at beaches and pools.
1994
Randwick City Council called tenders for the repair of the wooden structure of the Baths.
During the renovations, a 50-tonne crane fell 30 metres into the Baths, narrowly missing swimmers
1995
Restored and re-opened on 29 April after a long public campaign, Wylies Baths won the 1995 Francis Greenway conservation medal from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects for the restoration team.
1996
From 1996, Wylies Baths were administered by a Trust comprising the representatives of four local swimming clubs, three local residents appointed by Randwick City Council and a representative of Randwick Council. Wylies Baths again offered free swimming lessons on Saturday mornings and also hosted the Great Inflatable Film Festival.
1997
The Wylie's Baths Trust installed a replica of the Greenway medal on the rock face above the pool. Wylies Baths hosted a Historic Pools night to celebrate the National Trust classification of more than 60 of Sydney's historic harbour and ocean baths. Wylies again hosted another Great Inflatable Film Festival.
1998
Wylies Baths again hosted the Great Inflatable Film Festival on Australian Beach culture, which attracted over 1,000 people.
2000
Three of Peter Elliston's portraits of Wylies swimmers were installed at the International terminal at Sydney Airport in time for the Sydney Olympics.

Randwick City Council reported on water monitoring in the Wylies Baths as part of its State of the Environment (SOE) report.
2001
Eileen Slarke's book A Century of Wylie's Baths highlighted the painters, writers and artists (including Jeffrey Smart, Peter Kingston and photographers Mark Spencer, Peter Elliston and Ian Lever) whose work celebrated Wylies Baths and their environment and the significance of Wylies Baths for local poets, radio programs and as a location for TV and photo shoots.
2003
The NSW Government recommended Wylie's Baths for listing on the State Heritage register.

A "new" Australian Olympian

2009-03-01T10:49:00.005+11:00

Above: Swimming at 1904 St Louis Olympic Games.

A report in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald says that a 1904 Olympic swimming medallist has erroneously been in the record books as an American for the past 105 years, when, at the time of his success he was Australian.

Frank Gailey was from Brisbane, sailed to America in Februray 1904, competed in the St Louis Olympics in August of that year and returned to Australia. He emigrated to the US in 1906 and became a US citizen. He married and lived in Southern California, managing orange groves.

Gailey won silver in the 220 yards, 440 annd 880 yards freestyle and bronze in the one mile frestyle. He has been credited with introducing the Australian Crawl to America.

I found the picture above on a wonderful site set up by photographers from the St Louis Post-Despatch, publishing photos from their Sunday magazine. The page linked here shows some of the file images from 1904, paired with the most recent from Beijing 2008. Take a peak and look at the contrast in start in 1904 with the amazing capture of Australia's Eamon Sullivan in 2008!

Coogee - Mina Wylie at Wylie's Baths

2009-02-20T08:24:00.001+11:00

Sculpture of Mina (Wilhelmina)Wylie, daughter of the founder of Wylie's Baths. Sculptor: Eileen Slarke

Mina Wylie was a woman of firsts. She and friend, Fanny (Sarah Frances) Durack, were the first women to win a silver and gold medal respectively in Olympic swimming, at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. For the first time at those Olympics, two women's races were held: 100m, and 100m relay. She was also the first woman to receive the Diploma of the Royal Life Saving Society.
In 1971, Mina was inducted into the Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Wylie was born in Coogee in 1890, and died in 1984.

Photo collage left - Top left: Fanny Durack (l) and Mina Wylie (r). Top right: Mina Wylie. Bottom left: Fanny Durack. Bottom right: Fanny Durack (l) and Mina Wylie (r) in Stockholm
After competing against each other in thw 1910-11 swimming season, Mina and Fanny persuaded swimming officials to let them compete in Stockholm. There were 27 competitors. The pool was built in an inlet of Stockholm Harbour. There were no lane ropes. Fanny's time in the 100m final was 1:22.2 and Mina's was 1:25.4.

Clovelly Bay

2009-02-12T19:13:00.000+11:00

Sydney's favourite place to snorkel in the bay between beach and breakwater.

Clovelly - off the rocks

2009-02-08T20:00:00.001+11:00

These kids are bigger daredevils than I would ever be!

Swimming

Pool postcard: Municipal pool, Manchester , New Hampshire

Pool postcard: Allegheny State Park, New York

Pool postcard: Water ballet, Jones Beach State Park, Long Island. New York

Pool postcard: Watkins Glen State Park, New York

Pool postcard: Riverside Park, Minot North Dakota

Pool postcard: Coney Island, Cincinnati, Ohio

Pool postcard: Navarre Park, Toledo, Ohio

Pool postcard: Idora Park, Youngstown, Ohio

Pool postcard: Public swimming pool, Erie Pennsylvania

Pool postcard: Hershey Park swimming pool, Hershey Pennsylvania

Pool postcard: Community swimming pool, Farquhar Park, York, Pennsylvania

Pool postcard: 'Swimming Pool, City Park, Parkersburg, West Virginia'

Blue Pool, Bermagui 2 Jan 2012

Christmas Day: two swims

Bexley pool update

Bexley pool: proposal for re-development

Sydney's Ocean Baths - Ian Swift

Public swimming pools NSW Central West and South

Swimming travellers

Best of Barcelona: master strokes

Henry Scott Tuke

Famous swimmers: Edward II

Cassis (June 2008)

Late autumn swimming at Bexley

Missing you already

Helen Pitt - They never told me ... I wasn't a champion (Sydney Morning Herald 12 Jan 2011)

Famous Swimmers: Benjamin Franklin

Max Connors - Seachange

Swimming in Turkey July - August 1989

Swimming

Swimming from Ancient Rome to Christianity

Great Barrier Reef Low Isles

Noosa Main Beach

Caloundra Pool

Plantation Resort, Rainbow Beach

The fight to save Bexley Pool ....continued

Bexley Pool running out of options

Driving and picnicking on the beach

Rainbow Beach walk

Rainbow Beach 26 Jan 2011 (Australia Day)

Lifeguards and Lifesavers - Peregian and Rainbow Beach

Eurong Beach Resort

Seary's Creek near Rainbow Beach

Champagne Pools, Fraser Island

Mahon Pool, Maroubra - Contrast

Fun!

Kandos Pool

Bexley Pool Dec 2010 / Jan 2011

Eli Creek, Fraser Island 24 Jan 2011

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island, Queensland 25 Jan 2011

North Narrabeen Rock Pool 6 January 2011

South Curl Curl Ocean Pool

The Swimming Song by Loudon Wainwright III

Fitzroy Baths

On a day like today.....

Bexley pool battle

Sans Souci Leisure Centre

Foro Italico, Roma - its fascist history

Swimming in fiction: Andrea Camilleri's detective Salvo Montalbano

My cards - swimming theme

Cabarita Pool

Two recent pieces from newspapers

Swimming in fiction: The Famous Five

Malabar Pool

Greeting Card

Maroubra Mahon Pool

Coogee - Wylies Baths

A "new" Australian Olympian

Coogee - Mina Wylie at Wylie's Baths

Clovelly Bay

Clovelly - off the rocks