Warringah Aquatic Centre was 40 years in the dreaming and is now 40 years old
It was 40 years in the dreaming, five years in the planning and two-and-a-half years in the making but the Warringah Aquatic Centre – which tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of its official opening – was worth the wait.
Manly
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It was 40 years in the dreaming, five years in the planning and two-and-a-half years in the making but the Warringah Aquatic Centre – which tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of its official opening – was worth the wait.
But, like most official openings, the timing of the opening had little to do with reality.
For, while the swimming complex was officially opened on November 3, 1979, it had been in use for more than three months and had already hosted the NSW Winter Titles.
Warringah Shire councillors first expressed interest in an Olympic-sized pool in 1935 when they let it be known they would like to be invited to inspect the Olympic pool at Enfield, which had opened in 1933.
But the mid-1930s wasn’t the time to be searching for money to build an Olympic pool, so nothing resulted from the visits or from subsequent visits to Enfield in 1940 and 1941.
In April 1946, 28 organisations on the northern beaches took part in a conference called by the Manly-Warringah Local Improvement Committee, which agreed to lobby state ministers for improvements on the peninsula, including an Olympic pool.
Organisations represented at the all-day conference included the combined Progress Association, Parents and Citizens’ Associations, local RSL clubs, the Air Force Association, the Legion of Ex-Servicemen, the Labor Party, the Communist Party, the Liberal Party and youth organisations.
But a year later, as Warringah Council was considering borrowing £11,000 on an Olympic pool at Brookvale, several local progress associations criticised the council for even thinking of going into debt for a massive project when the district’s parks and roads were in such a poor state.
But the dream didn’t die – it just bided its time.
In 1961, the Avalon Beach Beautification Scheme proposed an Olympic pool at Avalon as a war memorial, arguing that war memorials should take some practical form and that nothing would be so practical for the northern end of the peninsula as an Olympic pool.
The Newport Chamber of Commerce was in favour of the idea, as long as no council money was involved.
In mid-1965 the Brookvale Chamber of Commerce told Warringah Council that an Olympic pool at Brookvale would benefit the area and the council promised to investigate the idea, including that of building it in Brookvale Park.
The council also looked at the possibility of building an Olympic pool at Belrose or Forestville.
At the same time, Warringah Council asked Manly Council whether it would consider a joint project and Manly Council said it was interested.
One of the first sites the councils considered was near the Artransa Studios at Frenchs Forest, just a stone’s throw from where the pool was eventually built.
Also at the same time, the Department of Education intimated that it might build an Olympic pool at the Narrabeen Fitness Centre, now the Academy of Sport, although no such pool eventuated.
Another idea that was mooted in the late 1960s was of an Olympic pool on reclaimed land beside Middle Harbour, near the Roseville Bridge, as part of a joint venture with Ku-ring-gai Council.
But the Maritime Services Board opposed that idea, so it was set aside and Warringah Council again looked to a joint venture with Manly Council.
An Olympic Pool Committee was formed in 1971 with four members each from both councils, two from the District Parks joint Committee, two from the Manly-Warringah Amateur Swimming Association, two from the District Council of Parents and Citizens’ Associations and one each from the Warringah Federation of Progress Associations and the combined RSL swimming clubs, making 16 in all.
And the first site the committee looked at was the one at Frenchs Forest where the pool was eventually built, which was inside the Manly Warringah Memorial Park and of which Warringah Council was the trustee.
There was ample room for parking and landscaping, water, sewerage and electricity supply facilities were available and the State Planning and Environment Commission eventually approved the project.
The only issue was money and there were plenty of Warringah councillors opposed to spending the sort of money an Olympic pool would cost.
Also opposed to the Olympic pool were many local branches of the Liberal Party, which threatened to oppose “those councillors who voted for it at the next council election”.
One source of money was from the sale of a piece of land adjacent to Warringah Mall, the sale of which raised $400,000, and another $18,000 from the sale of a piece of land in Kentwell Rd, North Manly.
Throughout the 1970s, momentum in an Olympic pool increased, although by now Manly Council had withdrawn from the project and built its own Olympic pool at the eastern end of Graham Reserve in Manly, which was opened in 1976.
And despite the opposition, in August 1976 Warringah Council voted to call for tenders for the Olympic pool and in November 1976 signed a contract with Hornibrook Group to construct a complex comprising an outdoor learners’ pool and wading pool, an enclosed 50m by 20m heated swimming pool with an attached diving area with 1m, 3m and 5m platforms, with the enclosed building being constructed of concrete, brickwork and glass measuring 68.7m by 54m, with the height varying from 10m to 16m, and with seating for 1200 people.
The design of the main pool was altered to make it 51m long to accommodate a bulkhead that could be moved to create two 25m pools or a 33m water polo field.
The architects for the complex were Figgis & Jefferson Pty Ltd, the tender price was $2.366 million and the scheduled time of construction was 54 weeks.
The estimated cost of the complex was $3.16 million.
Work began in December and the original completion date was expected to be December 2, 1977, but progress was slow, sometimes leading to testy relations between the council and the builder.
It was not until Friday, July 27, 1979, that the building was handed over to the council.
On July 28 and 29, the pool was used to conduct the NSW Winter Titles and on July 31, 1979, it was opened to the public.
The final cost of the pool was $4.1 million, which included the carpark, landscaping and a pedestrian bridge over Wakehurst Parkway.
When it opened, it was the largest indoor-outdoor aquatic centre in Australia and since then has been used by millions of people and hosted numerous top-tier aquatic events.
But with a proposal on the cards to move The Forest High School to the site of the aquatic centre to make way for new town centre on the school site, the long-term future of the Warringah Aquatic Centre remains uncertain.