The Memory Pool: Australian stories of summer, sun and swimming

by Therese Spruhan

Overview

Swimming is a central part of most Australian childhoods. We idealise beaches and surf, but for many kids the local pool – whether it's an ocean, tidal or a chlorinated pool – is where they pass summer days. Pools are places of imagination, daring, belonging, freedom, friendship and romance. For some they are places of hard-core swimming training. This delightful, nostalgic anthology brings together reflections and recollections about the swimming pools of childhood from a range of Australians of diverse ages and backgrounds, well known and not-so-famous – including Trent Dalton, Leah Purcell, Shane Gould, Bryan Brown and Merrick Watts. Evocative, funny and sometimes bittersweet, almost 30 people remember the pools that shaped their childhoods. Everyone who has ever dived into their local Olympic pool, bush waterhole or saltwater baths will want to submerge themselves in this beautiful book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781742244655
Publisher:	UNSW Press
Publication date:	02/01/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	464 KB

About the Author

Therese Spruhan is a Sydney-based photographer, journalist, freelance writer and swimmer who blogs about pools and swimming. Her own experience of swimming at Northbridge Baths in Sydney led her to wonder about the way childhood swimming shapes our views of the world as adults. Therese Spruhan is a Sydney-based photographer, journalist, freelance writer and swimmer who blogs about pools and swimming. Her own experience of swimming at Northbridge Baths in Sydney led her to wonder about the way childhood swimming shapes our views of the world as adults.

Table of Contents

Introduction Revelling in king tide at Northbridge Baths Dancing in the water Sprinting to the Sandgate Swimming Pool Searching for under-the-sea fairies Finding Disneyland Learning about life Remembering a bonza brother Falling in love Watching world records at the Tobruk Memorial Baths Returning to the pool Living it up at the Hollywood Pool Seeking refuge Captured in cool, green wonder Diving for catches Picnicking at the pool Daydreaming on the bottom of Parap Pool Wrestling with boys Bumping into life at the Bankstown Baths The diving diva of Fonty's Pool Dreaming big in Lightning Ridge Pashing off at the pool A labour of love at Mettams Ocean Pool Coming of age at two Tasmanian pools Swimming with jellyfish at the Nedlands Baths From little pools, big champions grow Campaigning to save Fitzroy Pool Getting involved at the pool The springboard show-off of Brighton Baths

Editorial Reviews

'A joyful, moving, nostalgic and original take at what it means to be Australian. Dive in!' — Robert Drewe

‘These immersive stories remind us that the swimming pool is not just the place we first learn to sink or swim. It’s a space of respite and renewal, playtime and pilgrimage, limerence and liminality, community and connection. Dive in – go on – I double dare you.’ — Sian Prior

‘Crisscrossing the nation, spanning generations and histories, these stories celebrate the joy and freedom of being a body in water. Read it while beside your favourite beach or pool, or read it and be transported there.’ — Bernadette Brennan

‘These immersive stories remind us that the swimming pool is not just the place we first learn to sink or swim. It’s a space of respite and renewal, playtime and pilgrimage, limerence and liminality, community and connection. Dive in – go on - I double dare you’. — Sian Prior, lap swimmer and author of ‘Shy: a memoir’ (Text Publishing).

‘I didn’t go to church as a kid but that was my church – that was my sacred space – a pilgrimage to Sandgate swimming pool.’ — Trent Dalton

'The Memory Pool is a joyful dive into that paradise of Australian childhood, the local swimming pool. In a series of beautifully recalled stories by well-known Australians, it evokes both the sensory bliss of forgetting self in the sights, smells and feel of the swimming pool, and the communal warmth of sharing long summer days simply hanging about at the pool with family and friends. It’s a book for anyone who remembers the sting of chlorine or salt in eyes, the silky feel of water slipping over limbs, and the feel of hot cement under a wet cossie.' — Patti Miller

'How timely is The Memory Pool, an anthology of recollections about swimming and swimming pools?...There are stories by notable Australians that direct the gaze inward, that use the chlorine, hot concrete, icy poles and chips, and all the paraphernalia of summers past to understand teenage loneliness, the need for refuge, sexual beginnings, early injustices and aspirations. This collection passes the tests it sets for itself.' — Phillip Siggins, The Australian

From the Publisher