Dive into pool’s past
IT was with a good deal of nostalgia that I had my last swim in the Tobruk Pool a few weeks ago, just before the $11.3 million redevelopment commenced.
I had my first swim in this pool in October 1950 when it was opened with great fanfare after almost 10 years of construction.
I then spent thousands of hours training there for the next 20 years.
Before that we swam in the salt water enclosure off the beach and changed in very breezy and smelly timber dressing sheds.
Back in the 1920s there was a still a salt water pool enclosed by rocks and concrete near the front of the present entrance where the red brick circular pavement is now.
The Tourist Swimming Club was formed at that time and competitions were held in this pool. A Japanese Olympic swimmer competed there against the locals while visiting for a short period.
The Tobruk pool became famous during the 1950s when Olympic and Commonwealth Games swimmers trained there because of our warmer water during the winter months.
Elite training started here in 1952 when eight swimmers trained for the Helsinki Olympic Games and this continued through to the Rome Olympic Games in 1960.
Our greatest year by far was 1956 when a training squad of more than 40 swimmers trained here for 12 weeks before the final team selection.
I was lucky to be selected to train in the Forbes Carlyle squad and became friends with many of these swimmers. Great names like Dawn Fraser, Lorraine Crapp, Jon Hendricks, David Thiele, Murray Rose, Jon Konrads and Terry Gathercole to name just a few.
Townsville became famous throughout the swimming world in 1956 when six world records and 13 Australian records were broken on the final selection trial carnival.
The grandstands on either side of the pool were packed with a large crowd to watch the exciting events.
The swimmers selected went on to sweep the pool at the Melbourne Olympics with eight gold, four silver and two bronze.
A great reunion was held in 2000 when most of the swimmers returned to reminisce on former glories.
The demolition is now in progress and construction should be finished early next year.
I hope the front entrance remains much the same with a photo gallery from those years.
Also outside the entrance we have a pictorial record of all our local Olympians.
Few people know that the grey tiles surrounding the garden beds have the names of all the local runners who carried the torch through this district on its way from Cairns to Melbourne in 1956.
Our Tobruk Pool was famous between 1950 and 1960.
It has more recently shown its age and hopefully the renovations will restore it to its former glory.
JOHN O’DONOGHUE, South Townsville.