Canterbury has its pool back. The $61 million Canterbury Leisure & Aquatic Centre opened its doors on Saturday 7 November. It came more than three years after locals swam their last laps at the old Tasker Park pool, which had served the community since 1959.
On a 30-degree day, locals turned out in force, and an estimated 2,000 people passed through the gates.
City of Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek set the tone by diving into the outdoor Olympic-sized pool fully clothed, suit and all.
The morning opened with a Welcome to Country from Aunty Lynn, a proud Darug woman. Indigenous performers followed, educating, entertaining and engaging the crowd for close to 30 minutes before the official opening and adding greatly to the atmosphere.
Cr El-Hayek also pointed visitors to the artwork leading to the entrance, by Aboriginal artist Jason Wing.
It draws on the story of the resistance warrior Pemulwuy, born around 1750. Elders tell how he vanished one day, leaving only a black crow’s feather behind, and how he travelled the Cooks River in a handmade canoe. The Mayor said more of the story will unfold at the site in the coming months.
“Building a world-class facility doesn’t just happen overnight,” Cr El-Hayek told the crowd. “It’s been a journey over many, many years.”
The site was handed to builder Lipman on 8 January 2024. At the height of construction, up to 150 people worked on site each day.
More than 30,000 tonnes of material was trucked away in 2,387 trips, and workers dug up asbestos, old bottles, relics and coins. The project took more than 280,000 construction hours without a single worker injured.
The centre has a heated outdoor 50-metre pool, an indoor 25-metre pool, a warm-water program pool, a kids’ water play area, a gym, two group fitness studios, a sauna, a café and space for allied health services.
Its three pools hold about 3 million litres of water.
The centre can cater for 1,200 people at a time, and about 600,000 visits are expected every year.
Federal Minister Tony Burke recalled the community campaign that saved both the pool and the neighbouring ice rink.
“Our area has as much right to the best services in Sydney and Australia as any other part of the country,” he pointed out. “
“We don’t just have as good as the best. We are now looking at one of the best facilities you will find anywhere.”
State Member for Canterbury Sophie Cotsis, who represented the Premier, has a personal link to the pool.
“I learned to swim here at Canterbury Pools. This was my local,” she said.
With an $18 million upgrade of the ice rink next door and the new Metro nearby, she told Channel 9 that “this is going to be a world-class precinct”.
The centre means a great deal to the Muslim community, which forms around a quarter of the population of the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA.
Cr El-Hayek, the area’s first Muslim mayor, has been in office since mid-2023.
He singled out a dedicated area for female groups to enjoy their private time, which he called “something our community has been crying out for many, many years”.
Women and girls will now have a proper space close to home where they can exercise and swim in privacy.
Water safety is obviously of huge importance.
“We know that western and south-western Sydney have the highest amount of drownings possibly in the country,” Cr El-Hayek said.
“So many people who are refugees and of multicultural backgrounds will come here and learn how to swim.”
Many of them are Muslim families who came from countries where learning to swim was never an option.
Sophie Cotsis said learning to swim here would be “life-changing”.
Tony Burke summed up the day: “You are entitled to it because you’re local, because we’re a community, because we work together.”
- Feature image and images of Bilal El-Hayek and Aunty Lynn courtesy of local resident Joel Kingston.
