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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Swimming is a central part of most Australian childhoods. We idealise beaches and surf, but for many kids the local pool – whether it’s an ocean, tidal or a chlorinated pool – is where they pass summer days. Pools are places of imagination, daring, belonging, freedom, friendship and romance. For some they are places of hard-core swimming training. This delightful, nostalgic anthology brings together reflections and recollections about the swimming pools of childhood from a range of Australians of diverse ages and backgrounds, well known and not-so-famous, including Trent Dalton, Leah Purcell, Shane Gould, Bryan Brown and Merrick Watts.
'Evocative, funny and sometimes bittersweet, almost 30 people remember the pools that shaped their childhoods. Everyone who has ever dived into their local Olympic pool, bush waterhole or saltwater baths will want to submerge themselves in this beautiful book.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Contents
- Sprinting to the Sandgate Swimming Pool, single work short story
- Becoming an Auburn Water Baby, single work short story
- Bumping into Life at Bankstown Baths, single work short story
- Daydreaming Underwater at the Parap Pool, single work short story
- Everyone Was Welcome in Geelong, single work short story
- Captured in Cool Green Wonder, single work short story
- Showing off at Brighton Baths, single work short story
- Embracing the Glorious King Tide, single work short story
- Falling in Love with the Blue Pool, single work short story
- Reflections on the Water at Austinmer, single work short story
- Diving for Catches in Adelaide, single work short story
- Living It up at the Hollywood Pool, single work short story
- Endless Games in the Backyard, single work short story
- Plunging into Beauty in Perth, single work short story
- Dreaming Big in Lightning Ridge, single work short story
- A Bonzer Brother at Manuka, single work short story
- The Campaign to Save Fitzroy Pool, single work short story
- Toasting a Swan River Icon, single work short story
- A Water-Lover in Launceston, single work short story
- Escaping to the Spring Hill Baths, single work short story
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
- Braille.
Works about this Work
-
Take a Plunge into the Memories of Australia’s Favourite Swimming Pools
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 25 December 2019;'From the smell of chlorine to water bombing and a mixing of cultures – just some of reminiscences of 28 Australians in the book, The Memory Pool: Australian stories of summer, sun and swimming compiled by Therese Spruhan.' (Introduction)
-
Water, Water Everywhere
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 November 2019; (p. 23)
— Review of The Memory Pool 2019 anthology short story autobiography'How timely is The Memory Pool, an anthology of recollections about swimming and swimming pools? Ambiguous summer looms, season of leisure and terror, but as temperatures rise we will be hankering for a refreshing dip and remembering swims from our past.' (Introduction)
-
Water, Water Everywhere
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16 November 2019; (p. 23)
— Review of The Memory Pool 2019 anthology short story autobiography'How timely is The Memory Pool, an anthology of recollections about swimming and swimming pools? Ambiguous summer looms, season of leisure and terror, but as temperatures rise we will be hankering for a refreshing dip and remembering swims from our past.' (Introduction)
-
Take a Plunge into the Memories of Australia’s Favourite Swimming Pools
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 25 December 2019;'From the smell of chlorine to water bombing and a mixing of cultures – just some of reminiscences of 28 Australians in the book, The Memory Pool: Australian stories of summer, sun and swimming compiled by Therese Spruhan.' (Introduction)
