The $80 million redevelopment of the Adelaide Aquatic Centre was a significant issue during this year’s South Australian election.
The Timebomb under Australia’s ageing aquatic facilities A new Royal Life Saving report has found that in the next 10 years, up to 40% of public aquatic facilities that local governments own will need serious refurbishment or outright replacement at a cost of over $8 billion. RJ Houston reports
T
he significant contribution that aquatic facilities deliver is now indisputable through quantifiable data, and we are also more informed about the number and the profiles of aquatic facilities across the country. What is far less known is the state of the aquatic facilities and the likely timeframes for their upgrade and replacement. The State of Aquatic Facility Infrastructure in Australia - Rebuilding our Ageing Public Swimming Pools, a newly released report by Royal Life Saving Society - Australia, was initiated under the guidance of the National Aquatic Industry Committee following anecdotal evidence from members that there was an impending ageing pools crisis, and a deeper understanding of the issue was needed. The report found that significant investment is required to replace, renew or upgrade these pools nearing the end of their life expectancy. Context of Public Swimming Pools Aquatic facilities are essential for the provision of learn-toswim, water therapy, leisure, physical activity and swimming, which are activities that over five million Australians regularly attend. In addition to these benefits, they are places that create social cohesion. They are an essential service for communities to access now and, most importantly, into the future. While it is well established that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have a deep connection to water and are known to have participated in swimming and aquatic recreation in Australia for thousands of years, according to historians, Australia’s early public baths were constructed in Melbourne and Sydney. One of the first was the heated Natatorium Baths in Sydney, 60 Australasian Leisure Management Issue 153
Melbourne 1956 Olympic Pools. Source: Sievers, Wolfgang. (1956). Interior of the Olympic pool, Melbourne http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-160635950
built in 1888. Before this time, Australians bathed and swam in the many rivers, ocean beaches, lakes and dams. Australia’s international reputation for producing successful competitive swimmers also enhanced the interest in swimming pools and grew the community’s acceptance of swimming as a respectable sporting and leisure pastime. After the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, an influx in the provision of 50-metre pools were built right across the nation, many of which were crowd-funded and managed directly by volunteers, often named as war memorial pools. The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s saw enormous growth in the number of swimming pools constructed across Australia, which has culminated in most of these pools now being at the end of their useful life and requiring an urgent review.
