Swimmers across Victoria fight to keep their local pools afloat

O’Brien, who was a committee member of Belfast Aquatics, agreed the pool needed extensive work but said the council’s $2 million figure came as a shock.

She said the pool had 5000 individual visits every month, including school children learning to swim, people doing rehabilitation after injury or surgery, and netballers and footballers for recovery and training. The pool also a ramp into the water, providing access for people with disabilities.

“It’s a very egalitarian place. Everybody’s equal in the pool,” O’Brien said.

The pool was partially funded by a $1 levy on caravan park users. While the community operated and built the pool, Moyne Shire owns the land.

O’Brien said the Belfast Aquatics committee had hoped to extend its 20-year lease after it expired this year, but the council refused.

“It’s been a complete devastation for the community,” she said.

An agenda item to be considered by Moyne Shire at its next council meeting says building inspections identified significant mould, plus structural and plant concerns. The agenda says the council has provided more than $3 million to run the pool since it opened, including $290,000 in the 2024-25 financial year.

However, the council declined to make public the report on the pool facility’s condition, citing commercial-in-confidence matters, the impact on staff and potential legal consequences.

Moyne Shire Mayor Jordan Lockett said the council had exercised its statutory obligations in closing the pool following the discovery of mould. He insisted the council was examining possibilities for the pool’s future and would not make any decisions until it exhausted considering all options.

Loading

Dr Liz Taylor, a senior lecturer in urban planning and design at Monash University, said rural pools had been closing or facing closure for decades. Unheated outdoor pools are particularly vulnerable.

However, Taylor said the Belfast Aquatics pool was unique among community-run pools because it was heated and indoors.

She said there had once been about 100 outdoor pools run by communities in regional and rural Victoria, but that number had declined to about 30.

In East Gippsland, a council has closed the Bairnsdale Outdoor Pool and a safety assessment will be undertaken. A pool at Campbells Creek, near Bendigo, closed about 15 years ago and communities across Victoria are fighting to save or reopen their pools.

In 1994, the Fitzroy community waged a fierce battle to protect its pool from closure. But Taylor said maintenance costs were typically steep for swimming pools and councils were reluctant to carry that burden.

Councils building pools are now putting their resources into large aquatic centres in central locations, which typically include gyms and cafes rather than standalone swimming pools in smaller towns.

“If you’re a small town the numbers don’t add up,” Taylor said. “With this pool closed [in Port Fairy], I doubt they’ll get another one.”

Insurance costs, too, also high. The Port Fairy pool has also been the site of tragedy, as a grade two student died there in 2021. The pool operators were convicted and fined $80,000 and the Education Department was fined $100,000. O’Brien said significant safety improvements had since been made at the pool.

Port Fairy resident Sonia Sandars, who has multiple sclerosis, said the pool had given her freedom.
“It’s the only place I can independently stand up, with the aid of ankle weights and a noodle,” she said. “It frees all my joints up.”

Sandars, who used the pool weekly, said she was far less likely to go to another pool because of the additional distance. The pool in Warrnambool is a 26-minute drive from Port Fairy.

Fellow user Mary Scott said the Port Fairy pool had been an important social outlet, in addition to providing myriad health benefits.

“The whole town is in mourning,” she said.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.