Travelling to Adelaide through south-west NSW and the Mallee country in Victoria and South Australia over the past couple of days we stopped by nine country pools – Lockhart, Urana and Jerilderie in south-west NSW, Swan Hill’s Richards Swimming Leisure Centre, Sea Lake Pool, Underbool Pool and Murrayville Pool in Victoria and Pinnaroo and Lameroo swimming centres in South Australia.
Built between 1955 and the mid-1980s, they were typified by vast expanses of lawn, simple amenities buildings, quirky signs, 33-metre and wading pools, surviving springboards, slides, retro-style seating and plaques commemorating the official opening of the pools. Â If they’d been open I would have loved to have swum at each one but especially I would have enjoyed bouncing off the diving board into the L-shaped Lameroo Pool.
Lockhart Pool in south-west NSW.
Plaque at Lockhart Pool commemorating its opening in 1956.
Quirky sign at the Lockhart Pool.
Urana War Memorial Pool in south-west NSW opened in 1967.
Sunlight shines on Urana’s 33-metre pool.
Blossom, lawn, babies and middle-sized pools at Jerilderie Swim Centre, south-west NSW.
Striped shadecloth and slippery slide in Jerilderie’s 25-metre pool, south-west NSW.
Empty 50-metre pool at the Deniliquin Swim Centre, south-west NSW.
Richards Swimming Pool Leisure Centre, Swan Hill, Victoria.
Diving boards at the Richards Swimming Pool Leisure Centre, Swan Hill, Victoria.
Richards Swimming Pool Leisure Centre, Swan Hill.
Gazanias and the 33-metre pool at Sea Lake, Victoria.
Victoria’s Underbool Swimming Pool opened in 1977.
The empty Underbool Pool, Victoria.
Victoria’s Murrayville Pool was opened in 1955.
Large lawn areas typify the pool at Murrayville, birthplace of Australian basketballer Rachael Sporn.
Lone swimmer in the 33-metre Pinnaroo Pool in South Australia.
Aqua blue at the Pinnaroo Pool, South Australia.
Not only the birthplace of Julie Anthony, Lameroo has one of very few L-shaped pools.
Retro-style at South Australia’s Lameroo District Swimming Centre.
Silos, shadows and starting blocks at the Lameroo Pool.
Yes! The only creature swimming in any of the pools as all closed for winter! Spotting more interesting pools in little towns on our walking trip in the Flinders Ranges! Great to see that many small towns still provide somewhere for the locals to swim in the hots months!
6 comments
Haven’t you got the most tolerant husband? What was supposed to be a 4 hour drive ended up taking 8 hours! 😊😘
Yes! And thanks for spotting a number of the pool signs otherwise we might have only visited about six!
Love the duck doings it’s laps. Happy travels.
Yes! The only creature swimming in any of the pools as all closed for winter! Spotting more interesting pools in little towns on our walking trip in the Flinders Ranges! Great to see that many small towns still provide somewhere for the locals to swim in the hots months!
Thanks for sharing your adventures! Great photos.
Thanks Bob. Lots of great pools in country Australia and many are War Memorial pools.