A local suburban pool is “part of the Australian way of life”, says Aisha Amjad.
But in Parramatta, where Amjad works at the Community Migrant Resource Centre, that essential part has been missing for the past four years.
Until 2017, the geographical heart of Sydney was served by the well-used War Memorial Swimming Centre but, despite local campaigns, it was demolished to make way for the new western Sydney stadium.
Residents were promised it would be quickly replaced, but the earliest opening date for a new facility is now 2023, and those who have sweltered through four summers with no local pool are fuming at the delay.
“A pool is an essential place for locals,” Amjad says. “There are limited activities and services in the area, not just for kids but for parents as well. It’s a place for bonding and developing social inclusion.
“It’s a focal point, it really is, like a temple or a mosque in the community.”
Parramatta is far from Sydney’s beaches, and other local swimming options are limited. The city council advises that residents should use the Epping Aquatic Centre as an alternative, but that is more than 12km from Parramatta station.
Residents argue the loss of their easily accessible pool has damaged the community by cutting off a resource that contributed to the physical safety, mental wellbeing and social cohesion of the population, especially among migrant families, who have found it hard to access swimming lessons. “Water safety is the most important thing that any kid can learn here, particularly from migrant communities,” Amjad says.
“They sometimes can’t afford to travel, and at times wouldn’t even know where to go. It’s hard for them to access something unfamiliar. They’ll probably give up and not bother.”
Suzette Meade of the North Parramatta Action Group says the pool served as a vital social interaction point for “one of the most diverse populations in NSW”.
“Pools are the quintessential democratic space – and it was taken from us.”
The Action Group began an online petition that garnered more than 3,600 signatures objecting to the closure of the old pool and organised the “togs on the fence” protest in early 2017, encouraging locals to hang their old swimmers on the fence around the old pool, in a display of frustration at the lack of planning.
Western Sydney was facing a 40C weekend at the time of the protest.
For the past decade Parramatta has recorded temperatures on average one degree hotter than Observatory Hill, overlooking the harbour, and Simon Grainger, a senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, says the gap is expected to grow.
In 2018-19, one street in Parramatta recorded 13 days of 40C or higher.
Dr Sebastian Pfautsch, a senior research fellow at the University of Western Sydney, says that is a particular burden in a suburb littered with apartment blocks.
“It’s hugely important because it will only get hotter, at least for the next decade.”
“And you should have as many community facilities open during those hot periods in summer as possible.
“Where else can they go?”
Why the delay?
When the old pool was demolished in 2017, the Mays Hill precinct in Parramatta Park was pencilled in as the location for the new centre.
But negotiations on the new pool stalled as the NSW government refused to budge on its initial commitment of $30m.
The facility Parramatta city council wanted, which would include a 10-lane 50m pool, a gym, cafe and spa and sauna facilities, would cost nearly double that amount.
It wasn’t until September 2019 that the council and the state government announced a shared funding deal for the new pool, with each paying $38.5m.
Construction has still not begun. Authorities are in the process of appointing a lead contractor.
Meade says the decision to bring forward the construction of the stadium without a contingency plan for the pool revealed skewed priorities.
“When the construction of a bigger football stadium is fast-tracked in 18 months, yet a major city has to wait six years for a public pool to replace the one the state government demolished, it really demonstrates what this state government thinks of the community in Parramatta,” she says.
Infrastructure NSW, the department responsible for the pool’s construction, declined to comment on the cause of the delay.
“Parramatta City Council is responsible for building the project and the NSW government looks forward to the completion of the aquatic centre,” it said in a statement.
“We will continue to work with Parramatta City Council to deliver the project for the community.”
The lord mayor of Parramatta, Bob Dwyer, says the new aquatic centre will be worth the wait.
“This is a complex project and we’ve worked hard to ensure it meets the needs of our growing community with a world-class design that sensitively integrates with its location in Parramatta Park.
“The new aquatic and leisure centre is a significant piece of infrastructure that will serve our community for generations to come − and we want to get it right.”
But frustration remains.
Meade says: “Parramatta pool being unnecessarily demolished was one of the saddest days in our history and the people of Parramatta will never forget that.
“No public pool for six long hot years, more of our open space and parklands diminishing, and all for more corporate boxes in a stadium.
“Meanwhile, the residents suffer hotter and hotter summers each year, with no safe place to swim.”
