Named after a garden centre on the site of this suburb before the shopping centre was built
My experience in the pool
There was a bitterly cold wind blowing on the early August afternoon I came to Roselands Pool.
The water was heated, which helped, but it took me about 15 laps before I stopped feeling the goose pimples on my back as I swam freestyle up and down.
The pool was very quiet on this grey, wintry afternoon. There were only two others in the pool when I began, and after I got out, I left one lonely guy to carry on ploughing up and down.
I liked this place, though. It has an interesting shape, with a nice curve in the area next to Lane 1, and an area covered in tarpaulin in winter which is used mainly in summer for kids to mess about in the water without disturbing the lap swimmers in the lanes.
This feels like a real community pool, with the target group for swimming lessons being the local African and Asian communities.
Lovely setting, too, with gum trees and palms surrounding the pool. It’s always a joy to stare up at a big eucalyptus as I do my back stroke lengths.
Getting there, getting in, getting changed
The pool is right next to the Roselands Shopping Centre. There is a separate pool car park. No trains anywhere nearby, so if you’re in public transport, it’s the bus to Roselands.
Shallow steps down to the 1m deep water at the shallow end. Not much room to launch yourself under the lane dividers, though, so it might be easier to get in within the lane you plan to use.
Big, spacious changing rooms, with warm water showers (no charge), though in mid-winter it can take a while for the warm water to come through.
Other practical points
Entry fee $6 in 2015.
Open all year round.
History and stories of the pool
Lifeguard Matt was not aware of any significant stories or people attached to this pool. No sports teams train here, either, because the pool has no gym. He says there are some promising young swimmers coming through, but it’s hard to retain them because of the lack of additional facilities, making other aquatic centres more popular.
A search on Google, however, did spot Sonny Bill Williams swimming here during a recovery session back in 2006, so there may well be other rugby players working out here…
What’s your story? Any memories of swimming here? Any stories to tell? Or did you just have swimming lessons in the cold of winters past?
Whatever you have to say, however brief, I’d love to hear from you and will add any stories to this section of the site as and when I receive them. Add your comment or story under ‘Leave a Reply’ below.
Links to other articles on this pool
Pool Lady posted her thoughts on Tumblr
Coffee, tea or milkshake after the swim?
If, like me, you have an aversion for shopping mall cafés, with their tinned music and usually mediocre coffee (and tea), the best place near Roselands Pool has to be:
The Lantern Club – 21 Roseland Avenue, Roselands
Open Daily from 9.30am so not much use to you if you have an early morning swim at Roselands, though it doesn’t close till 4am so you could almost have a wake-me-up coffee pre-swim…
The Mazi Café is very friendly and does a decent brew. They have their own branded coffee, though I’m not sure where it’s sourced or roasted. But it was smooth, tasty and almost certainly better than anything you’d find in those mall cafés. Lots of cakes to treat yourself after a hard swim work-out. I chose the Black Forest Gateau – well, it was my birthday.
Enjoyed this website, brought back a lot of childhood memories. I fondly remember attending Dick Clark’s Swimming Classes on a Saturday morning, until he left to open his own swim school.
After a swim it was off to the shop for a Red Indian or Rosy apple lollie or sometimes an Orange Sunny boy, (frozen triangular shaped flavored block ice).
Not so many fond memories of the ‘enforced school swim days’, where you were classified by the teachers , (who seemed to have a streak of malice), as either a swan, ducking or God help you – a sinker!
Sinkers were unceremoniously herded to the deep-end for the entertainment of the teachers and told to ‘jump-in’ and if they were reluctant to do so the teachers would encourage other kids to push them in, or they’d push them in themselves, then an older kid was summoned to ‘go rescue them once they sunk to the bottom’. The teachers always found it wildly amusing. I often wondered how many of tose kids ended up with deep-seated issues with water after their school swim days.
I recall the giant brown frog statue outside te pool usually ended-up being subjected to washng powder attacks by local High School kids.
liz
I also recall that there used to be an outside children’s wadding pool with a tiled mushroom shaped spout. In the 1970’s there was no indoor pool. The turnstiles were there, as was the wired seat / divider change areas, I seem to recall they were painted green back then.
It was always known as the cleanest public pool. In comparison, the then Bankstown pool, (which no longer exists), had a rougher, dirtier reputation.
Liz
Thanks for sharing those memories, Liz. That ‘streak of malice’ sounds like it bordered on sadism! I was over in Sydney when I was 8 in 1968 and have similar memories of being dumped in the pool then, but that was in murky green water up at Roseville. I still haven’t been back there since…
The pool was officially opened by Olympic and English Channel swimmer, Linda McGill, who at the time was a learn to swim teacher at Heffron Park Swimming Pool (now called the Des Renford Aquatic Centre). I was one of her ‘water babies’ and accompanied Linda to the opening of the pool. I was the first person to swim in the pool, when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and completed the 50 metres. After my lap of the pool, Linda also swam in the pool.
What a great memory, Rowena and congratulations on being the first person in the pool at such a tender age