Sydney’s sdy pools are a treasure, with a cherished heritage spanning more than 200 years. Convicts carved, dynamited and reclaimed them in the 1800s, while later generations have maintained a love affair with them, swimming in, walking around, eating and drinking by their banks. They’re a defining feature of Sydney’s coastline, and nowhere else do they exist in such abundance, with the city’s collection trumping Cape Town’s at 19.
But not everyone is so impressed. In particular, some councillors want to see them razed and replaced with grass. In Blakehurst, where a shabby pool complex sits on the banks of the Georges River, residents have formed a community group to save it. But Blakehurst ward councillor Sandra Mort and her henchmen are fighting to see it quashed, with the pool’s fate wrapped into the campaign for the December 4 local elections.
The pools’ supporters have a point: the massive project is ill-suited to the scope of a local government, and it could be better spent on infrastructure that will benefit more people. A spokesman for the group says it has received “more than $200,000 in donations” from community members. But that may be a drop in the ocean compared to the estimated $140 million price tag for the pool’s restoration.
Its proponents say the pool is worth the investment for the sheer pleasure it provides: the euphoria of an invigorating swim, the meditative walk around its perimeter or just the spectacle. They also point out the pools are free, a big selling point in this age of rising health costs and declining public hospital budgets.
In the blue-green bliss of a sea pool passeggiata, Fairy Bower is a tease. Its clean concrete walls promise more than just a swim, but instead offer a stroll past fringing rock pools and an aquatic reserve in which docile dusky whaler sharks, cuttlefish and turtles play.
The pool is a favourite with the elderly, who are often the first to jump in and swim amongst the swirling waves. They play beside their grandchildren, and even those in their 90s find the salt and cold a powerful antidote to a harsh world.
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