Royal Life Saving WA farewells industry veteran Tony Head

Royal Life Saving WA has said farewell to Remote Pools Coordinator Tony Head, who has retired after a 50 year career in the aquatic industry and 23 years with the organisation.

At Head's retirement party, Royal Life Saving WA President Peter Leaversuch presented Head with an Australian Meritorious Service Order for 15 years’ service from Royal Life Saving Australia for furthering the aims and objectives of the Society.

Throughout his long career, Head has been a mentor and inspiration for countless people, having been instrumental in championing sustainability in the industry - and partnered with the Water Corporation in these efforts - while also playing a foundational role in establishing and adopting vocational training reforms.

Head was also a long time Executive Officer of LIWA Aquatics.

In celebrating Head's retirement, Royal Life Saving WA looked back at his long list of accomplishments.

Tony Head
Tony grew up in Bondi and was first introduced to the aquatic industry by his uncle who managed three pools in Sydney’s western suburbs in the mid-1970s. Tony took this passion with him all the way to Scotland, where he became a lifeguard at the Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh while living there in 1979. 

In October 1983, Tony moved to WA with his wife Lou and took a position as an Assistant Manager at Kojonup Pool before taking over as manager 5 months later. In 1986, the family moved to Perth where he secured a role with the City of Stirling at the Inglewood Pool. 

In 1987, Tony moved to Wanneroo where he became the Aquatic Manager of the brand-new Wanneroo Water World (which became Craigie Leisure Centre in 1991). Tony also eventually worked as the Operations Manager and Facility Manager during his time there. 

Tony was approached to join the Pool Managers Institute Board in 1988, and in 1994 he took on the role as President which he held until 2007. From the mid-1990s he was also active in training and development while working with Southeast Metro TAFE as a lecturer. 

In 2001, the City of Joondalup outsourced the operation of Craigie Leisure Centre, and Tony was offered a job at Royal life Saving WA on the training team to work on the delivery of Pool Operations Training in partnership with Central TAFE. In this role, he was appointed as the Manager of Training and delivered pool operations courses across Australia.

The role with Royal Life Saving also allowed him to continue in his position as President of the Leisure Institute of Western Australia (LIWA) Aquatics and an advocate for the industry. Under his guidance, LIWA Aquatics flourished in partnership with Royal Life Saving.

In 2007, he took 18 months off work to travel before returning in March 2009 in a bi-funded role as the Executive Officer of LIWA Aquatics with funding provided by the Western Australia Department of Sport and Recreation (DSR) and support from Royal Life Saving. While in this role, Tony was also heavily involved in the Royalty for Regions pool revitalisation program with the DSR, where he worked to maximise physical activity at the 130 public pools throughout WA.

During this time, Tony was also a major advocate for working with the Department of Health, which resulted in the formulation of the Code of Practice for the design, operation, management and maintenance of aquatic facilities. Replacing laws created in the 1960s, this new code gave all Pool Managers a set of safety and operating standards.

In 2018, he commenced a coordinating role with the Remote Pools project. In his role as a Remote Pools Coordinator, he oversaw the maintenance and management of eight pools and supported over 20 pool managers whilst developing and maintaining a strong relationship with the Department of Communities which allowed for continued investment in the program. 

Looking back at these career achievements, Royal Life Saving WA General Manager of Community Development, Greg Tate noted “Tony is an amazing human being ... his ability to mentor and manage people is second to none. He shows high levels of compassion and understanding, and he consistently finds the balance between support and encouragement whilst still providing individuals with autonomy to make their own decisions and do their job."

Head has been succeeded by Hamish McLauchlan as Royal Life Saving WA's Remote Pools Program Coordinator.

Images: Tony Head (top) and with Peter Leaversuch (below).