The Pool

We celebrate public pools ocean pools backyard pools motel pools Olympic pools Outback pools and the original pool the billabong revealing how this sacred space has seeped into Australian identity

For women the pool was originally a battleground in the fight for the right to swim For Indigenous Australians a color bar was in force at the public pool across much of the continent until Charlie Perkinss Freedom Ride of 1965 famously broke through the turnstiles at Moree For diver Matthew Mitcham the pool was where he became Australias first openly gay Olympic hero