‘It costs us a fortune in water’: Old, leaky Kennedy Regiment Memorial Pool continues to have last laugh

Charters Towers’ famously leaky pool will live on for another few months after an application for up to $50m to replace it was deleted due to a weird Canberra decision.

Kennedy Regiment Memorial Pool, 2025.

Charters Towers’ famously leaky pool will live on for another few months after an application for up to $50m to replace it was deleted due to a weird Canberra decision.

The 53-year-old Kennedy Regiment Memorial pool has been on the top of Charters Towers Regional Council’s hit-list for some time, but finding the cash needed to replace it has been a struggle.

Deputy mayor Kate Hastie said the pool was costing council.

“It has leaked for 20 plus years, and it costs us a fortune in water,” she said.

“Being over 50 years old, no one knows where the actual leak is, if it’s from the pipes, the pool, or somewhere else.”

Councillor Kate Hastie with the 53-year-old pool.

As of right now, Council has received $7.8m in state funding to help replace the pool, which they hope to bundle with enough Federal Government funding to completely cover construction costs.

But the Federal Government is living up to it’s reputation as a slow decision maker - in 2024 Charters Towers Regional Council applied for the Regional Precincts and Partnership Program (rPPP), expecting to hear if they’d been successful or not by October.

Kennedy Regiment Memorial Pool was closed in early 2025 when Charters Towers entered severe water restrictions. Council ceased filling it up, which meant it needed to be closed to the public.

The months have dragged on since then, and in April 2025 council sadly informed the community the Federal Government had updated the rPPP’s guidelines and all applications needed to be rewritten and submitted again.

The decision by Canberra is frustrating, but Ms Hastie said there was an upside.

“We think these new guidelines are in our favour,” she said.

“If we can get this one (the rPPP) it will fully fund the whole aquatic precinct because we can receive anywhere from $5 to $50m.”

Kennedy Regiment Memorial Pool, 2025.

Ms Hastie said once enough money is found, work will begin immediately.

“We aren’t far away from being shovel ready,” she said.

“We will take out this old outdoor pool, put a new one in running north-south, there will be a new kiosk and entrance, a cafe, it will change a lot.”

Ms Hastie is hopeful an outcome will be announced within three months.

So far, the most expensive project to get funding through the rPPP has been a $26.3m beach redevelopment project in Broome.

Originally published as ‘It costs us a fortune in water’: Old, leaky Kennedy Regiment Memorial Pool continues to have last laugh