If you’re an outdoor swimmer, Sydney is your paradise. The city’s magical harbour and far-reaching coastline provide plenty of places to dunk your head and cool off under the sun. But if you’re looking to make the most of our famously sunny climate and have a celebratory pool day – with Thirsty Merc blasting, of course – it might be better to have your own place.
Sydney pools are a popular addition to many homes, as they offer a great way to stay fit, relax with family and friends, and enjoy our famously sunny weather all year round. However, they come with a number of costs and requirements that you should be aware of before making the decision to get one. Here are some things to consider before deciding whether or not a sidney pool is right for you.
This week, Gunyama Park Aquatic Centre in Green Square and Parramatta’s new Olympic-sized pool will open their doors to the public. Both are welcome additions to a city that’s rapidly heating up and densifying. They’re also a reminder that, when it comes to swimming pools, the city has an entrenched habit of slewing public benefit towards the already privileged.
But the new pools are also emblems of a city that has lost sight of its rich, egalitarian heritage. In their sleek modernity, they suggest that we are shifting away from the open ocean and beaches where we first learned to swim as a city, and toward artificial indoor facilities. It’s a shift that may well be driven by health and environmental concerns, but it’s one that’s raising questions about the city’s ability to preserve its unique identity as a city of open ocean pools.
When we think of Sydney’s ocean pools, the sleek white lines of Bondi Icebergs surely spring to mind. But there are a lot more than just that one iconic spot, and the city’s history is far longer than the decades it took to build this thronging watering hole.
The city’s history with ocean and rock pools stretches back to the early 20th century. It was around that time that men’s and women’s swimming clubs were formed, and that recreational and competitive swimmers needed a place to do their laps away from the rough surf and shark-prone waters of the ocean.
For historian Marie-Louise McDermott, director of All Into Ocean Pools, the creation of the city’s pools marks the turning point in the urbanisation of swimming. “Until the late 19th century, most of the recreational swimming was in and around the water,” she says. “And in the early 1900s, people wanted to have nice safe swimming spots.” The pool, she adds, was just that.