General News
17 June, 2024
Swimming resumes as indoor pool reopens
Residents can once again put their swimwear on and dive into Maryborough’s indoor pool — which finally reopened yesterday, following a 10 week closure. The Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre’s pool hall is now open to the public, after it...
Residents can once again put their swimwear on and dive into Maryborough’s indoor pool — which finally reopened yesterday, following a 10 week closure.
The Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre’s pool hall is now open to the public, after it was temporarily closed to allow for a $550,000 upgrade to the 25-metre pool.
Works — undertaken from March onwards to enhance user experience and safety — included re-tiling of the pool, associated waterproofing and replacement of the wet deck.
With the project complete, Central Goldfields Shire mayor Liesbeth Long thanked the community for their patience and reiterated that the upgrades were a necessary step in ensuring the pool remained operational in the years to come.
“It’s taken a long time and we’ve been without a pool for ages and I’ve heard locals’ frustration,” she said.
“The works just had to be done, we couldn’t leave it any longer — people would’ve started to get hurt with the cracked and broken tiles.
“There was interference with the filtering system too because bits were breaking off so there was no other way around it but it’s open again and it’s amazing, it looks absolutely stunning.”
Encouraging everyone to take a dip, Ms Long said the indoor pool was an important local asset.
“We’re very blessed for a town of this size to have a complex like this,” she said.
“It’s such a fantastic facility where children can learn to swim, people can get active and make use of the amazing classes we have.
“I love being in the water and I hope the community comes and enjoys the pool too.”
While the opening of the indoor pool is welcomed, its outdoor counterpart’s future remains unclear.
The $7 million Maryborough Olympic Pool Complex project continues to be plagued by funding problems — with a $4 million grant application for the pool, unsuccessful.
Now, councillors are reassessing their options to secure required funds.
“We’re still really committed to the outdoor pool,” Ms Long said.
“But it’s a lot of money — it’s $7 million for a facility that’s only open four months of the year and only when it’s above 25 degrees.
“If we choose to fund that [through the council] then there’s other things that we won’t be able to support. I don’t think it’s a good financial strategy to put all your money into one thing.
“But we have not buried it, we just need to get more information and see if there’s other funding options available to us — we can then hopefully get our beautiful outdoor pool back up and running.”