Penrith War Memorial Swimming Pool opened in Station Street, Penrith on January 24, 1962.
The pool was funded by Penrith City Council and from donations from the RSL, Boy Scouts Association and the War Memorial Swimming Pool Committee.
The swimming centre still stands in the same spot on Station Street today.
The pool has been the home of countless swimming carnivals over the years. In fact, it’d be hard to find a Penrith student who hasn’t competed there during their school years.
And it’s not just swimming that has taken place on the Station Street site.
As the below photo of St Dominic’s College students from 1965 shows, there’s been plenty of other ways to keep active over the years.
And water polo emerged as an extremely popular sport in the area in the 1970s, with the Penrith Pools the hub.
The photo below shows Penrith’s water polo team in 1978 at Penrith Pool.
From left, the photo shows team members Ken Havard, Ian Boguley, Ross Selleek, Chris Duncan, Warrick Copeland and Larry Anderson, John Murray, Stephen Rosier and Naville Turnbull in the front.
These days, the pool is known as Ripples Leisure Centre Penrith.
Lucy Randolph
Lucy Randolph is a western Sydney-based journalist, focusing on hyperlocal news stories impacting the Penrith community.