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

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 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.

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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

by Therese Spruhan

Paperback

$29.99 
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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 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: 9781742236582
Publisher: UNSW Press
Publication date: 02/01/2020
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Therese Spruhan is a Sydney-based photographer, journalist, freelance writer, and swimmer who blogs about pools and swimming.

Table of Contents

Suburban pools

TRENT DALTON: Sprinting to the Sandgate swimming

pool 3

YUSRA METWALLY: Becoming an Auburn water baby 13

BRYAN BROWN: Bumping into life at Bankstown Baths 21

TESS LEA: Daydreaming underwater at the Parap Pool 26

Bay pools

MICK THOMAS: Everyone was welcome in Geelong 41

TONY DOHERTY: Captured in cool green wonder 47

JOHN MCSWEENEY: Showing off at Brighton Baths 54

THERESE SPRUHAN: Embracing the glorious king tide 61

Sea pools

LIZZIE BUCKMASTER DOVE: Falling in love with the

Blue Pool 77

ASHLEY HAY: Reflections on the water at Austinmer 81

RICHARD CHMIELEWSKI: Diving for catches in Adelaide 86

LINDA KENNEDY: Living it up at the Hollywood Pool 94

Building pools

DAVID BARTLETT: Endless games in the backyard 105

KIM METTAM: Plunging into beauty in Perth 112

LILY SISA: Dreaming big in Lightning Ridge 122

MERV KNOWLES: A bonzer brother at Manuka 133

Historic pools

ELLEN CONNOR: The campaign to save Fitzroy Pool 143

DIANE VUKELIC: Toasting a Swan River icon 152

JO-ANNE LARTER: A water-lover in Launceston 160

DIANE FINGLETON: Escaping to the Spring Hill Baths 166

Champions of the pool

PRIYA COOPER: From Kalamunda to the Paralympics 175

SHANE GOULD: Learning about life at Pymble 182

DANIEL KOWALSKI: From little pools big champions

grow 188

LAURIE LAWRENCE: Smashing records in Townsville 195

Country pools

LEAH PURCELL: Dancing in the water at Murgon 205

JAN CORNALL: Wrestling with boys in Rochester 211

LEE FONTANINI: Growing up at Fonty’s Pool 218

MERRICK WATTS: Disneyland in Broken Hill 225

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