gympieregionallibraries

Gympie Memorial Swimming Pool

While most Gympie locals are out enjoying the last few days of sunshine at the Gympie Aquatic Centre before the winter chills set in, many of us also have fond memories of summer days spent at the old Gympie Memorial Pool.

The Gympie Memorial Pool entrance on River Road before it closed down in 2017. Picture: Gympie Regional Libraries Photograph Collection.

Gympie Memorial Pool. Picture: Gympie Regional Libraries Photograph Collection.

The Gympie Memorial Pool was opened on the 3rd of December 1960 by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Henry Abel Smith.  (Virtual War Memorial Ltd, 2024).  Built in a conveniently accessible location on River Road, adjacent to both Nelson Reserve and Memorial Park, the complex featured an outdoor lap swimming pool, a circular splash pool for the children and during the 1980s there was even a waterslide!

The Water Slide at the Memorial Pool in the 1980s during a flood. Photo courtesy of Angus MacDonald and Gympie: The real treasure is the town FB page. Picture: Contributed

The Gympie Memorial Pool offered learn to swim classes for young children, had a swimming club called Goldfins, hosted many school swimming carnivals and offered recreational swimming for members of the public (Kovacevic, 2017).

The children’s splash pool at the Gympie Memorial Pool. Picture: Gympie Regional Library Photograph collection.

Mr Jeff Manthey, who worked at the pool for over 21 years, said in a 2016 Gympie Times article that “it had been the site of a lot of fun for Gympie families,” a trend which he had been delighted to see continue over the years, with people who had jumped in as young children now bringing their own families along.

Jeff Manthey overlooking the Gympie Memorial Pool. Picture: Scott Kovacevic (Gympie Times article, 2016).

The memorial pool sadly made its last splash in April 2017, when it closed its doors to make way for a new youth skatepark and recreation area to be built on the River Road site (Strachan, 2017). The Gympie Youth and Recreation space was opened on the 17th of November 2019 with skateboarding fans flocking to the new venue (Enlocus, 2019).

The new youth centre pays homage to the old Memorial Pool with some structural features of the original shelter (such as the entrance to the pool) being kept, a skate bowl being named “splash pool”, as well as the coloured theming and designs (Enlocus, 2019).

The Gympie Youth and Recreation space which was opened in 2019. Picture: (Enlocus, 2019).

While Gympie is now home to a new $22.2 million Aquatic Centre with all the bells and whistles (The Gympie Times, 2016), it seems safe to say that the Gympie Memorial Pool will always be remembered by many locals as a wonderful community facility, in which many people first learned how to swim.

Sources: