By JOLENE OGLE
IN TRUE Noosa fashion, it was a public meeting held at the Good Shepherd Lutheran College assembly hall on 6 December 1995 that started the community’s fight for what is now the Noosa Aquatic Centre.
More than 150 people turned up to the meeting that saw the formation of the Noosa Olympic Pool Association (NOPA), with Tony Frost elected president, Sandra Hudson, secretary and Joe Gilbert, treasurer, along with committee members Lex Bell, Dave Chapman, June Colley, Janet Gemmell, Patrick Lynch and Peter Marconi.
In the words of Mr Frost, “the battle had just begun”.
Mr Frost said the best description of the pool was the “Noosa icon that nearly didn’t happen” with an array of hurdles for the lobby group to jump before the pool was finally opened in 1999.
“In late 1995, Noosa Council was considering a recommendation from staff for the construction of a 25m indoor pool at Wallace Estate for $3.5 million,” he said.
“On hearing this, the community jumped into action, believing this certainly did not represent good value for the ratepayers. Hence, a public meeting was called for and led to the formation of NOPA.”
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the local lobby group’s formation, and the start of the almost four-year fight to build Noosa an outdoor community pool.
Driven by a need for an Olympic-size pool, the group worked tirelessly throughout the struggle to ensure Noosa Shire locals and visitors could enjoy a community aquatic centre by continuously lobbying local and State Government.
Former NOPA president Frost said while the Noosa Council opened the Noosa Leisure Centre in 1993, the community desperately wanted a pool.
“The local community was frustrated by the fact the 25m pool at Tewantin State School had too many restrictions; the public could only use it after school hours, there was a lack of water space with only six lanes with a restricted width of 1.8m,” Mr Frost said.
The fight for Noosa’s 50m pool faced an array of challenges throughout the three-and-a-half year struggle, but NOPA never gave up.
Mr Frost said council seemed reluctant at first to discuss the idea of a 50m pool for Noosa.
“People found it difficult to come to grips with providing a 50m pool,” he said.
“You have an ocean to swim in, was the response. They were so far out of their depth. The only councillor prepared to sit down and listen to us was Bob Abbot.”
In 1996 the then CEO of Noosa Council Bruce Davidson said research conducted by the Brisbane City and Caboolture Shire councils found basic, outdoor, unheated 50m pools received minimal use and were expensive to operate.
Then in 1997, the discovery of the near-endangered delicate mouse on the 2ha site in a council-commissioned flora and fauna study almost saw the project halted but a strict environmental plan ensured the proposed plan could progress with minimal disruption to the marsupial.
Time and again the community and NOPA pulled through to continue the fight, holding a swimathon with more than 100 swimmers at the Tewantin pool in March 1996 to raise funds for the swimmers selected to compete at the Atlanta Paralympics, while NOPA worked hard to keep the issue in the local papers and at the forefront of the local government’s mind and budget.
“The media were enormous in their constant support to our cause,” Mr Frost said.
In 1997, a $1 million State Government subsidy under the National Standard Sport Facilities Program helped to fund the final project that cost over $2.6 million.
The Noosa Aquatic Centre was officially opened on Saturday 1 May 1999, three and a half years from the first public meeting held at Good Shephard Lutheran College in 1995.
Then Premier Peter Beattie joined hundreds of locals to officially open the facility, where skydivers, helicopter rescue displays, diving demonstrations and a dive-in movie marked the occasion.
Time soon showed the high-demand for the aquatic centre with an additional 25m pool added to the complex in 2006; thanks to the community and local and State Government, the complex now offers learn-to-swim classes, a gym, social space, water polo.
“Thanks to all who believed Noosa would be a better place to live with a 50m Olympic pool,” Mr Frost said.
“And a special thank you to Roger and Eyvone Cawley who through their Night of Stars fund-raiser, raised $40,000, which was the community contribution to the pool.”
And thank you to the steering committee of Sandra Hudson, Joe Gilbert, Lex Bell, Dave Chapman, June Colley, Janet Gemmell, Patrick Lynch and Peter Marconi who, without their tireless work, Noosa locals and visitors wouldn’t be able to cool off, learn-to-swim or get fit at the Noosa Aquatic Centre these 20 years later.
