Historic Coburg Olympic Pool Foyer to be redeveloped

How important is the retro sixties modernist design of the Coburg Olympic Swimming Pool Foyer and the landscaping of the pool to you?

Moreland Council is planning to upgrade the foyer of the Coburg Olympic Swimming Pool.  A representative of Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool met with City of Moreland planners and the architect to go over possible plans for the renovation.  While FCOP is pleased that the City of Moreland are planning to improve the usability of the pool entry foyer, we are very concerned about the way that the proposed remodel interacts with the unique 60s modernist entry.  The heritage significance statement for the Coburg Olympic swimming Pool (see page 109) identified the swimming pools, the landscaped setting and the ‘modernist entry building, including the interior’ as features of Coburg Olympic Swimming Pool that should have heritage controls. There is still scope within the proposed heritage overlay to allow for the pools and buildings to be used and for modern amenities to be incorporated.

The Coburg Olympic Swimming Pool complex was recommended for inclusion on the local heritage overlay by a series of experts in 2011. The experts included a heritage consultant hired by Moreland Council, council planning staff, and the Planning Panels Victoria tribunal. However the Moreland City Councillors removed the Coburg Olympic Swimming Pool from the list to be included in the heritage overlay and therefore the pool does not have the recommended legal protection.

While the Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool support the aims of the planned upgrade to the foyer - to facilitate more staff in the entrance and kiosk, improved storage to offer a wider range of food for sale – the Friends are in the process of providing feedback to Moreland Council about retaining as much of the heritage fabric as possible. This includes the importance of retaining the retro 1960s ambience of the entrance and not distracting from the distinctive modernist design. We believe that Moreland Council should obtain advice from the council Heritage Advisor on the Coburg Olympic Swimming Pool project to enable the usability aims of the foyer redesign to go ahead without compromising the heritage significance of the site. We will keep the wider group up to date with discussions and welcome comments on the proposed re-design of the foyer.

Please let us know what you think by commenting below, on our Facebook page or by email to savecoburgolympicpool@gmail.com.

Heritage Significance of the Coburg Olympic Pool

The Coburg Olympic Pool is part of a long history of swimming on the banks of the Merri Creek in Coburg. The history of Coburg by Richard Broome (Between Two Creeks) describes the banks of the creek as an Aboriginal feasting site – in the 1920s a shell midden was discovered in Pentridge. After European settlement the Merri creek and later Coburg Lake which was dammed in 1917, became important swimming holes. Coburg lake had a series of pools, changing rooms, a diving board and champion swimming teams, also a water polo team. Locals continued swimming in the creek even after the Lake pools were closed due to pollution. In the late 1950s two children drowned in the creek at East Coburg and a campaign to build an Olympic Pool began. The pool was explicitly built to replace the lake and creek for swimming, and until these are clean enough to swim in again, the Olympic Pool provides an important opportunity to socialise and swim in a natural setting beside the Merri Creek.

The pool is closely linked with the history of community activism in Coburg. The push for the pool in the 50s and 60s came from the close knit community in the Newlands estate,which now has a local heritage overlay. Prominent Newlands local Frank Cox played a part in campaigning for the pool. The campaign for the pool involved a massive community fund raising effort including art shows, baby shows etc.  Later waves of activism in the late 1990s kept the pool going and the pool was fixed and re-opened in 2008 after being closed for two years. The latest campaign was generated by a new wave of young families moving into Newlands and  the campaign connected with a wide range of community members, including older residents. Frank Cox, now in his 90s, spoke at a Friends of the Coburg Pool event in 2008.

Coburg Olympic Pool is a site of shared memory for thousands of locals who grew up spending hot days at the pool when the local population was so big ‘you couldn’t find a spot for a towel’ on the massive grounds. Many locals learnt to swim at the pool– the students at Newlands High used to go over with a teacher at lunchtime, and students from Coburg Priamry School would walk to swimming lessons before the Coburg Leisure centre opened,.

The pool is an excellent example an increasingly rare example of a 1960s suburban Olympic pool (1965) architecture, with all 4 pools operational and featuring an unusual gravity fed system. The architecture is virtually intact and features a high modernist entranceway which is a local icon. The site has had buildings added – a multipurpose space currently used for a disability support program, and a table tennis centre, but apart from the removal of the diving towers in 2008, the site is intact; the stadium seating, the toilets and kiosk are all original and the Lions Clock is still in position (donated by the Lions Clock shortly after the pool opened so kids would not have an excuse to come home late for dinner). The grounds have established peppercorns and other leafy trees that have provided shade for over 40 years. The view over bush regenerated parkland toward Merri creek is an unusual natural feature for an urban outdoor swimming pool.

the diving board that was

by Janet Grigg
This is a picture of the Coburg Olympic Pool diving board I took last summer. It is suddenly, this week, no longer there. Without any warning, an important piece of local history has been reduced to rubble.



This diving board had been closed since 2003 as the the Moreland Council stated that it did not comply with FINA safety regulations (international governing body for swimming. The rungs on the high board had been removed, presumably so that until the pool closed in 2006, there was no danger of misuse. There has been talk of the diving boards being replaced with something that met current safety standards, but the Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool have believed that the diving boards have significant heritage value. The diving boards could have been left as they were, in their shapely glory, pending a heritage survey, and the black diving pool fence extended to allow for another, useable diving platform to be installed at the same time. It didn't have to be an either/or proposition.

Now we will no longer see the glint of steel amongst the trees on a hot day. Even if the towers were to be reconstructed in a similar style, something of their essence, what made them unique in the first place will still be lost forever.

More pictures of the diving board here. If anyone has any pictures of the diving board (old or recent), we'd love to take a copy and record this part of the pool's history for the future. Please email me if you can help out in this way. 

It's still going to be great at the pool this summer, and we're going to focus on the positives, but as I said before it didn't have to be this way.

Potted history of Coburg Olympic Swimming Pool

by Kitty Owens
(Reference Richard Broome, Between Two Creeks, Coburg Historical Society 2001)

People have swum in Merri Creek at Coburg, near the site of Coburg Olympic Pool, for a very long time. The banks of the Merri Creek were important fishing and ceremonial locations for the Wurundjeri. Coburg Lake was a popular Melbourne swimming destination early last century, peaking in the 1920s. Coburg Lake had wading pools, a diving board, bathing sheds, as well as band on a Sunday, and a kiosk.


1928 Coburg Lake looking northeast from Murray road


1932 swimming at Coburg Lake Reserve
(both photographs used with permission of the Coburg Historic Society)

The Coburg Olympic Pool was built to replace the creek (and lake) as a swimming spot for local children. In 1958 the Coburg Lake was closed for swimming due to water contamination. A week before this, 2 girls drowned in the Merri Creek in East Coburg . ‘A citizens committee started to raise funds for a swimming pool near the lake. The Coburg Olympic Pool finally opened in 1965, paid for by a special rate, grant and loans moneys.’ (quote from p325).

Coburg Olympic Pool is what we have left of swimming in Merri creek and we should not be so quick to talk of economising and centralising.

January 1st 2008 to February 8th 2008

January 7th 2008: Acting CEO, Jenny Merkus, writes to Moreland Leader newspaper maintaining Council’s wrongful understanding of stage 3A water restrictions and their water Conservation plan requiring Coburg Olympic Pool to be closed to offset water use at other pools.

January 10th 2008: FOCOP meet with Moreland City Council Acting CEO, Jenny Merkus to present a petition with 750 names on it. Council denies they misunderstood stage 3A guidelines and make an undertaking to seek clarification from water authority. A report will also be prepared to identify what is needed to reopen the Coburg Olympic Pool for the remainder of the 2008 summer season. Report to presented to Jan or Feb council meeting. FOCOP to be provided a copy of report before tabling at council meeting.

January 14th 2008: Leader Newspaper leaks internal council memo where council acknowledge they mis-interpreted Yarra Valley Water stage 3A guidelines, resulting in the unnecessary closure of the Coburg Olympic Pool. Memo also states ‘council will write to the Yarra Valley Water to request their agreement to fill the pool’

January 17th 2008: John Fain on ABC radio interviews Moreland Mayor, Joe Caputo.  Cr Caputo admits Council got it wrong resulting in the unnecessary closure of the Coburg Olympic Pool but will not commit to its reopening, claiming Council has not the funds.  Cr Caputo says a report is being prepared to identify what is needed to get the pool open. This report will be used to make a decision on the immediate future of the pool at the next council meeting on January 30th 2008. Cr Caputo offers a shuttle bus service as an interim solution.

January 30th 2008: FOCOP prepare for Council meeting without a copy of the Council report on the pool. A morning meeting with North East ward Councilors Andrea Sharam and Mark O’Brien allows us to hear some of the report findings and gauge Councilors position on the re-opening of the Pool. Both councilors state they would not support the pool re-opening for the 2008 summer or beyond. Both councilors claimed the pool is past it’s used by date, requiring too much money to fix.  Councilors talked about the Moreland Aquatic strategy and the Coburg 2020 plan as a solution to the closure of the pool.

January 30th 2008: Moreland Council Meeting, Bell St Coburg. Approximately 30 FOCOP supporters attend meeting. Councilors extend question time to hear many questions from the public gallery.  Councilors dispute claims from the public gallery that the pool has been closed intentionally and claim the closure is temporary. Councilors vote to keep the pool closed for the remainder of the 2008 summer season and have it considered in the next capital works budget in June/July 2008

February 8th 2008: WILLS federal MP Kelvin Thompson writes Climate change and water minister Penny Wong, to help save Coburg Olympic Pool. The letter requested funding assistance and included copies of local paper articles. Local Leader Newspaper features an article on this topic on February 11th

to be continued...

December 1st, 2006 to December 31st 2007

December 1st 2006: Coburg Olympic Pool fails to open for the summer season as scheduled. Being a hot day, many people turned up to the pool for “the first day of the season swim” to find the pool closed. With Moreland Council failing to erect signage explaining the closure, or provide information on Council website and pool answering machine, many local residents are left guessing.

December 12th 2006: Moreland Council announces the pool is closed due to maintenance issues until further notice. Council website and pool answering machine are not updated with new information. This is a verbal response provided to residents upon telephone enquires. Information on the exact nature of maintenance issues is not disclosed.

December 28th 2006: Moreland Council media release states the pool will remain closed for the remainder of the summer 06/07. "Council regrets that the Coburg Olympic Pool in Murray Road will not re-open this summer so that Council can meet its water conservation obligations under the Stage 3 Water Restrictions. 
Whilst the recent Coburg Olympic Pool plant room repairs are complete, final testing and calibration cannot be finished until the pool is filled. This is not possible because we are unable to meet Yarra Valley Water saving targets across the municipality. It is a tough choice but not filling this pool means the others can stay open." Council still fail to erect signage explaining the pool closure, or update Council website and pool answering machine. Local residents are still guessing! Curiously, local residents look thru the fence to the murky waters a very full Coburg Olympic pool.

January 3rd 2007: Media statement from Moreland Mayor, Councilor Mark O’Brien confirms the following "Moreland has reached the crossroads with our swimming pools. Whilst the drought and Level 3 water restrictions have caused us to close the Coburg Olympic pool, we cannot hide from the fact that the use by dates for most of our pools is fast approaching. Some of them leak a great deal of water, some have terminal rust and others are simply not adequate for their purpose."


January 9th 2007: Moreland Council offer the following information in an article published by The Age newspaper “Water authorities told the council that opening the pool would breach its water conservation obligations under stage 3 water restrictions and that other pools in the area would have to close if it decided to keep the Coburg outdoor pool open”. Mayor, Cr Mark O’Brien is pictured standing at the end of the pool looking concerned – ironically; the pool is shown to be full of water, albeit murky and uninviting!

August 2007: Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool (FOCOP) write to Moreland Council officers and the 4 North East ward Councilors requesting the pool open for the summer season of 2007/08

September 20th 2007:Jenny Merkus, Director of Social Development at Moreland Council, responds to the FOCOP request with the following written statement  "Council wish to confirm that as a result of the ongoing water restrictions, Council’s commitment to its water conservation plan and the subsequent water saving initiatives, it is not feasible to open the Coburg Outdoor pool for the 2007/2008 season unless current water restrictions are eased or alternative water savings initiatives of comparable volumes can be identified at other aquatic venues."


September 9th 2007: Moreland Mayor and North East Ward Councilor, Mark O’Brien, offers the following written response to the FOCOP request, "the council spent $80,000 on the pump repairs last year in time for the season. The only reason it stayed closed was the refusal of Yarra Valley Water to allow us to re-fill the pool due to the water Restrictions."


September 10th 2007: North East Ward Councilor, Andrea Sharam offers the following written response "Last year the pool had a major plant problem and then the state govt imposed harsher water restrictions which meant that the pool could not be re-filled once the works were completed. It is also true that it is unlikely to re-open this summer because of the water restrictions"


December 22nd 2007: FOCOP confirm with local water authority, Yarra Valley Water, that Coburg Olympic Pool is allowed to open under current stage 3A water restrictions.

December 31st 2007: Moreland Leader Newspaper breaks story of the Pool’s unnecessary closure by Moreland Council.  Yarra Valley Water spokesperson, Emma Hiller, confirmed that public pools were not included in the water conservations plans required of councils, and it was a council decision to close the Coburg Olympic Pool.

1961, turning of the sod for the Coburg Olympic pool

by Janet Grigg
First official excavation for the Coburg Olympic pool in 1961 with the old Pentridge Prison in the background.



Source: Picture Victoria. Used with permission of Coburg Historical Society.
Description: black and white photograph 16.7cm by 11.5cm - Turning of sod - Olympic swimming pool, East Coburg. Councillor FG Cox (Mayor) DCE Constructions - Mr Black, Mr Williams; Crs Ryland and Morgan, Des Gibson (building surveyor), Mr GA Bridges Town Clerk.