In the middle decades of the 20th century, Australia became a nation of swimmers, creating a demand for town pools to augment rivers, creeks and lakes. After World War I, public pools increasingly replaced ‘swimming holes’ as they were safer; that was the rationale for the approval of Manuka Pool.
But it was after World War II that ‘memorial pools’ sprouted across the nation. Manuka Pool, named simply ‘The Swimming Pool’ until 1956, was officially opened on 26th January 1931. Canberra’s first pool was not a memorial pool but it is intimately linked to the sacrifices of the World War II.
An Honour Board was installed in 1947 in memory of nine young men who were avid swimmers at the pool and gave their lives during World War ll. In recent years, the Board had been sadly neglected. As part of its campaign for greater recognition and protection of the pool’s heritage values, Friends of Manuka Pool commissioned the restoration of the Honour Board. At a ceremony on 12 March 2018, a refurbished Honour Board was unveiled in the presence of a number of senior military leaders and public service department secretaries.
Drawing on various record, including war service records, Frances McGee and Nick Swain of the Canberra District Historical Society wrote a booklet containing biographies of the nine. (Copies of Swimmers Who Gave Their Lives are available from FoMP). Visitors to the pool are encouraged to take a moment to study the restored Honour Board located in the pool’s entrance foyer.
Although often forgotten, Manuka Pool had a ‘famous and idolised’ swimmer, Andrew “Boy”
Charlton, who was captain of the Manuka swimming club from 1934 and represented Canberra in the NSW state swimming championships in 1935. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of fame in 1972, having represented Australia in the 1920s and 1930s, winning a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Friends of Manuka Pool 