Heritage Nomination – Wodonga Olympic Pool – March 2012 Statement of cultural heritage significance What is significant? Constructed between 1955 and 1959, the Wodonga Olympic Pool in Stanley St, Wodonga, is a modernist sporting and recreational facility built largely by volunteer labour and materials. Its original construction comprises an Olympic size main pool with wings, toddlers wading pool, expansive landscaped lawns and trees, concrete and wooden change-rooms, brick entrance pavilion and kiosk and a long bespoke bicycle rack along its front perimeter. Added later was a middle-sized ‘non-swimmers’ pool, separate waterslide and pool, BBQ facilities, playground equipment and Swimming Club hall. The Olympic pool is remarkably intact except for the removal of the 1 metre and 3 metre diving boards and swimmers blocks at each end. The entire facility is in excellent working condition.

How is it significant? The Wodonga Olympic Pool is of aesthetic, architectural, cultural, historical and social significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant? The Wodonga Olympic Pool is culturally, historically and socially significant as an important example of a hard-won community built, public amenity and landscaped place built predominantly from volunteer labour and materials in an era and region that was relatively economically deprived. The rare winged design of the 55 yard swimming pool, overseen by Shire Engineer GDW Pain, is significant for its early foresight of the needs of the aged and disabled, and the 38 metre long bespoke bicycle rack is representative of a major cultural practice before the transition away from bicycles in the 1990s. The pool is a well-documented in-land Victorian example of the cultural shift from segregated swimming in natural rivers in the early 1900s. The pool has a special association for the very young and the very old given its venue for the successful Wodonga Swimming Club and Blue Light discos and proximity to a local retirement village.

The pool has architectural and aesthetic significance with its modernist entrance pavilion, uncommon winged-pool design, natural air- and sun-drying concrete and wooden change-rooms, geometric pool layout, high-quality tiling and ample and established lawns and trees. The main pool and octagonal wading pool embody the functional and stylistic characteristics of post-war modern utility in architecture and building, and the pool wings are a unique technical and creative achievement. The immense proportions of the four-pool facility plus expansive grounds – over 10,000 square metres estimated to hold over 1000 patrons – provide a rare and uncommon greenspace for the central business district.