Stand-in Parramatta Pool opens at Sydney’s Macarthur Girls High School

With the former Parramatta War Memorial Pool having been demolished to make way for the new Western Sydney Stadium, a stand-in pool for local residents has been opened at the Macarthur Girls High School.

Officially opened this week after 12 months of renovations, the 1.8 metre deep 25 metre pool will be used as a temporary facility while the City of Parramatta moves on with constructing a replacement for the former War Memorial Pool.

As the only pool open to the public in the Parramatta area, the refurbished pool will hold swim school classes for children from September.

Parramatta Council Aquatic Manager Suzanne Raven said the timing could not be better, telling the Parramatta Advertiser “there will be kids in this pool come 3rd September (and) we’re expecting up to 600 students to register for the swim school classes which will be put together across spring and summer.”

The $1.5 million project to upgrade the pool faced major delays due to a range of complications which acting Director City Services, Jim Stefan said was due to the age of the former Macarthur pool.

Stefan advised “as you can imagine, refurbishing an existing pool that is some 50 years old has its challenges. It was necessary to review and upgrade the utilities associated with the pool and this has resulted in a facility that will better meet the users’ needs for many years to come.”

The pool was initially funded by parents of the school back in 1962, where parents contributed 4 shillings a week, for a total of 10,000 pounds, toward the construction.

The current renovations include new toilets, improved lighting and heating and raising the levels of the diving section to 1.8 metre to have more swim classes in the water.

The improvements include a new six-lane pool structure, raising the levels of the diving section to 1.8 metres to have more swim classes in the water, improved lighting, new plant and pool heating, upgraded change rooms and toilet facilities, and accessible change facilities.

There is also additional street parking and a wheelchair-accessible public entry.

The pool will be open year-round and will be accessible to the general public, through registration, from mid-August for lap swimming and learn to swim classes.

Image shows Macarthur Girls High School students inspecting their new pool.