Unbuilding era 1: “Save our pools too”, financialisation
Hundreds of open-air public pools were built across Victoria in the early 20th century. More or less by definition, only some have expanded in the arms race of upgrades: first to Olympic pools, then indoor pools, then aquatic centres. Save Our Pool protests, however, have long punctured and sometimes frustrated proposed closures.
Entering the 1990s, Victoria’s public pools were reshaped by recession conditions, and a new business interest in aquatic centres. A view that public pools could make money underscored newly critical ways of calculating how they did not. Historian Ian McShane argued that by the 1990s, Victoria’s public pools were recast as obsolete financial liabilities for local governments, with two fates: closure, or transformation into high-capital multi-purpose centres hoped to be profit-making. Hannah Lewi and David Nichols similarly found “by the 1990s many municipal pools were increasingly disparaged as decayed, outmoded, unpopular and unsustainable structures”. New Public Management (NPM) bought new language – “single use”, “unprofitable”, “loss-making” – that emphasised centralising or outsourcing services.
Forced council amalgamations supercharged interests in efficiency. In 1994, commissioners of newly amalgamated Yarra Council sought to close Fitzroy Pool, seeing the newly enlarged municipality as having too many pools. While Fitzroy famously stayed open, others closed quietly. No one seemingly protested the 1990 demolition of Preston Baths, and the site became a car park: but the indignity of that inspired an activist to later save Fitzroy pool, remembering how “they covered the Preston pool and built a car park over it. Every time I drive past, I get sick in the stomach”. Near Ballarat, Sebastopol Pool closed after the Borough was forced to merge with the City of Ballarat and the new Aquatic Centre progressed. I remember seeing crowds of partying people at Sebastopol Pool and envying someone wearing a “Guns N’ Roses was here” t-shirt. Later I was fascinated by street directories still showing the former pool.
The City of Melbourne found its three urban outdoor pools (Kensington, North Melbourne, Flemington) financially problematic following a 1992 review, and sought to close them. While the proposal was to pick one to turn into a larger scale indoor centre, protestors emphasised the value of each pool to its community. Referencing the quick success of Fitzroy protests, the four-year campaign included the catchcry “save our pools too”. While North Melbourne re-opened as a heated outdoor pool in 1996, Kensington was closed until reopened as an indoor pool in 2002. Flemington, after boundary changes, was demolished and sits under the CityLink Freeway. Footscray and Sunshine pools were closed to prioritise the new Maribyrnong Leisure Centre. Except for time as a community fishpond stocked with trout, Sunshine Pool was closed for 14 years, while Footscray closed in 2006 despite an eight-year campaign. The site was replaced by apartments.
Wendouree Pool was demolished in 2013 ahead of $14 million ($18 million today) additions to the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre. Coverage of the closure captures how millions of dollars are fatal for older pools but rounding details for aquatic centres – “Wendouree is the lowest used pool in Ballarat,” warned a local councillor, “to keep the pool in a usable fashion would cost us millions of dollars.” Then without missing a beat “[i]n its draft budget, the council has allocated $17 million for a new indoor 50-metre pool at the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre…”.
Plans for Ballarat’s aquatic centre were one reason why Creswick never got an Olympic or indoor pool. They help explain why, from the 1970s onwards, the Brown Hill Progress Association and Brown Hill Swimming Pool Upgrade Committee’s proposed improvements were always sidelined. Supporters planned to install heating in 1987, but were knocked back on account of – as an internal note cautioned “the difficulty for Council is the long term future of the [Brown Hill] Pool, especially in the light of the proposed heated Indoor Pool Complex, and therefore whether or not to encourage such enthusiasm”. Enthusiasm for small country pools would often be discouraged over the coming decades.
