Foyer showcases - One

"It is the earnest wish of the council that the people will appreciate the beauty of the structure, the purity of the water, and facilities provided in this place where the adult population will find recreation and the children of today and tomorrow will be able to learn the art of swimming and life-saving under the best possible conditions."

Mayor of Granville JS Fielding, October 1936

"In the 1930s if you were one of the top swimmers you’d be called upon to give an exhibition of your stroke. The official opening was a lot of fun and exciting, because Granville was one of the first new pools in the western suburbs. In those days breast stroke was very graceful – so I got in and glided along like a swan."

Margaret Whitlam, Australian breast stroke champion

"In the 1950s Granville was the only pool between Liverpool, Penrith and Auburn that was available to swim in. We had to go elsewhere on the weekends to swim because it was too crowded. There must have been a couple of thousand people at the pool on a hot day – you could walk across the pool without touching the water."

John Devitt, Australian swimming champion and Olympian

If it was a hot day and the swimming pool was crowded, we couldn’t use the diving boards, so we’d sit around in the stands and try to talk to girls. We did most of our training in the early morning or late afternoon, when the crowds had cleared. We had no trainers in those days, we just had to train ourselves."

Frank Murphy, Australian diving champion and Olympian

 A ‘wonderful possession’  

Granville was Sydney’s fourth Olympic-sized municipal pool built during the 1930s Depression - following Enfield, Bankstown and North Sydney. The immense popularity of swimming following Australia’s successes in the Olympic Games of the 1920s and 1930s coincided with government objectives to provide work for the large numbers of unemployed men.  

Granville Municipal Council and residents also wanted a safer and healthier environment for swimming, rather than the creeks and brick pits frequented by local children. The site chosen for the new pool was the duck pond in Bergan’s Paddock, the location of Granville’s first woollen mills. The pool was built by previously unemployed local men, with money provided in the form of a low-interest loan by the Unemployment Relief Council. 

In October 1936 the pool complex was opened with great fanfare by Mayor JS Fielding and Minister for Works ES Spooner. While the Granville Boys’ Silver Band played, spectators enjoyed swimming exhibitions by Olympic champions Bonnie Mealing, Clare Dennis and Pat Norton, and Australian champion Margaret Dovey (later Whitlam), and a diving display by the NSW diving troupe. Granville resident Dave Ramsey, then aged seven, climbed over the fence with a friend to avoid paying the penny entrance fee - only to discover that the festivities were free.

 Many of Granville pool’s original features have disappeared or been altered over the years. The original 1936 Olympic pool was shortened from 55 yards to 50 metres, and the small terrazzo water slide and 10 metre diving tower were both removed by the 1970s. In the early years swimmers had to pass through overhead showers and a footbath before entering the water, and the change rooms featured rooftop ‘sunbaking areas’. For a small fee, swimmers could hire costumes, towels, caps and lockers.  

Until Parramatta and Auburn pools opened, people travelled to Granville from as far afield as Homebush, Liverpool and Richmond. Barry Vines remembers an extended heat wave in the 1970s, during which Granville had 51,000 visitors in one week (usual figures were about 18,000). Ted Simms remembers that on hot days it was so crowded ‘you couldn’t put a pin between the people in the pool.’

 A mecca for diving

In the first decades after its opening in 1936, Granville had one of the only 10 metre diving towers in Sydney. Granville became the premiere training venue for several State and National champion divers, including Arthur O’Connor, Lana Robertson, Jack Barnett, Noeline Maclean and Frank Murphy. Local brothers Joe and Jack McCann were well-known Australian champions – Joe competed at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and Jack at the 1938 British Empire Games. Many successful divers had little professional training, but congregated at Granville to watch and learn from other good divers.

 Several local divers became members of the NSW Diving Troupe, including Doug Dale, Roy Lyndon, Jack Newling and State champions Jim Montgomery, Midge Betts and Peter Fahey. Swimming carnivals at Granville always included exhibition diving, and spectators could also expect to see the courageous and hilarious comic diving routines of locals Midge Betts and Paul Hogan.

 In safe hands

The first pool manager was Rob Chalmers, a State swimming champion, celebrated surf life saver and one of the first Australians to be awarded the Royal Humane Society’s gold medal. Ted Simms, who began as a pool attendant in 1936 before serving six years in the Navy during the war, was appointed pool manager in 1946. Simms introduced a new method of chlorination to prevent algae, which previously had to be vacuumed or brushed off manually. Simms would not stand for any ‘silly business’, and recalls how he would use a broom handle to knock agile young men out of the perimeter trees – from where they could see into the ladies’ change rooms.

After Parramatta pool opened in 1959 Simms became superintendent of both pools. Senior pool attendant Barry Vines took over as superintendent in 1977, and retired in 1997 after 41 years’ service. Under Vines’ management, pool heating became more efficient, as natural gas and then electrical heat pumps were introduced.

Email: parracity@parracityswimclub.com.au
Last modified: 20-Aug-2006